Lady Tigers fall to Ash Grove at home

"We just didn't play tonight." Nevada Lady Tigers head volleyball coach summed up her team's performance in that one simple sentence after a tough loss at home to the Ash Grove Lady Pirates Tuesday night.

Head coach Duane Cox's Lady Pirates (16-1-2) came into the night as the fourth-ranked team in the Missouri Class 2 volleyball polls and were among the stiffest competition the Lady Tigers have seen thus far this year. Despite their strong season thus far, the Lady Pirates provided Nevada with several opportunities to take control of the match, but the Lady Tigers were never able to capitalize as they lost in two sets, 26-24 and 25-17.

The Lady Tigers came into the night fresh off of a home win Monday night over the Seneca Lady Indians, but that didn't seem to matter as Ash Grove wasted little time getting their offense going in the opening set. Thanks to a pair of early runs, the Lady Pirates jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead before the Lady Tigers ever got started.

The Lady Tigers never quit battling throughout the set, however, and eventually worked their way back to a 17-17 tie after taking advantage of a series of short runs of their own. From that point on, the score stayed fairly even and it looked as though the first team to make a mistake would come out on the losing end.

That was exactly what happened as the Lady Tigers worked their way to a 24-22 lead, but couldn't close the deal, eventually allowing Ash Grove to take a comeback victory by a final score of 26-24.

The Lady Tigers fought hard throughout the set, but simply couldn't seem to put the Lady Pirates away when they had the chance -- an issue they have battled all season long. The Lady Tigers missed a total of six serves in the opening set, giving the Lady Pirates several openings that allowed them to take the win.

"We've seen better (opposition). We proved when we came back in game one that we can play right with them," Lowery said. "We dug a big hole right at the beginning, had to fight back, got back to 24 and had game point and just gave it back to them."

The second set got off to a similar start to the opener as the Lady Pirates took advantage of a series of early runs to open up an 11-6 lead. That lead eventually continued to grow, eventually to as much as 13 points before the Lady Tigers were able to mount a charge and attempt a comeback.

The second set let-downs that have plagued Nevada all season long were in full force Tuesday as they couldn't seem to keep up the momentum from the opener, allowing the Lady Pirates to work their way out to a 23-10 lead. The Lady Tigers came to life late in the set, mounting a 7-1 run to get back within seven at 24-17, but that rally proved to be too little, too late.

The Lady Pirates eventually got the error they were looking for to put an end to that run and take the win by a final score of 25-17.

"We started to come back, got seven points. But it's too late, that's too much," Lowery said. "Against a good team, you're not going to make up that many points."

The Lady Tigers' JV had similar luck on the night, staying with Ash Grove in the opening and earning a victory, but ultimately fell in three sets, 25-19, 21-25, 20-25. Nevada's freshmen were the only ones to pick up a victory on the night, beating the Lady Pirates freshmen in two sets, 25-10 and 25-19.

With that loss, Nevada's varsity fell back to .500 on the year as their overall record dropped to 8-8. The Lady Tigers are scheduled to be back in action tomorrow as they head out on the road to take on the Lady Mustangs of McDonald County in Anderson, Mo.