Area prep roundup: Dalton volleyball opens with a sweep

The opening day of the high school volleyball season for three local teams was part good, part bad and part needs improvement.

The varying levels of each category depended on the team.

Dalton swept Coahulla Creek and Northwest Whitfield — 25-19, 26-24 and 26-24, 25-11, respectively — but the host Lady Bruins salvaged a split by topping the Lady Colts 25-18, 25-12 in Tuesday’s tri-match.

“We saw some really good things tonight, had a few lulls at times,” Dalton coach Joey Wills said. “I think we all saw a lot of things that we can get to work on in practice.”

The Lady Cats, who are coming off a 2011 season that saw them advance to the second round of the state tournament, had the best night with a pair of wins, although those victories were uneven. After a relatively easy first-set victory over Northwest, Dalton faced game point in the second set as Northwest led 24-20.

However, the Lady Cats responded in a big way. Mollie Martin started the turnaround with a kill to get the ball back in Dalton’s hand, and she then went to the service line. A pair of aces, a kill from Susan Meinders and a block for a winner by Allejandra Fraire put Dalton up 25-24, and an unforced error by Northwest ended the match.

The Lady Cats struggled in the first set with Coahulla Creek. Wills said his team was caught off guard by the Lady Colts’ offensive attack, which relies more on precision placement of winners rather than attacking the net for kills.

In a back-and-forth game, Gabby Henderson’s service ace gave Coahulla Creek a 24-23 advantage with a chance to stun Dalton, but Wills called a timeout that iced the young Lady Colts, who have just two upperclassmen.

A pair of unforced errors by Coahulla Creek followed, and Meinders ended the game with a kill down the line. Dalton rolled in the second set, leading 16-4 at one point.

“This was our first night under real pressure, and they got their feet wet and came around,” Wills said. “We were down game point to Northwest and were able to come back for the win, and I thought that spoke volumes and very highly of our girls. It was the same thing with Coahulla Creek. That means a lot to me to know that I have girls with a lot of grit and integrity to battle back.”

For Northwest coach Jennifer Quinn, who’s in her second season leading the program, developing that killer instinct is something she wants her team to work on.

“The opening day showed me some things we need to do both mentally and physically,” Quinn said. “In the Dalton match, it was runs. We had runs of good and runs of bad with no real consistency throughout. We need to step up and finish. I have six seniors on our roster, and we needed to finish right there.”

Meinders, an all-area selection last year, said this year’s team will need some time to come into its own with several players stepping into much bigger roles in 2012.

“I was a little nervous with a lot of new players on the varsity this year,” Meinders said. “There were some spots where we obviously didn’t play our best, but I really see us coming together as a team, and the new players have helped us so much.”

Meinders had a strong start with 21 kills and eight aces in the tri-match. Sophomore Ashleigh Peters had 15 kills, while Martin finished the night with 14.

In the night’s final matchup, Northwest and Coahulla Creek both had slow starts with unforced errors as the two teams paced each other for the first half of the first game. It was tied eight times before a Lady Colts error gave the Lady Bruins a 17-16 lead that Northwest wouldn’t relinquish. A McKinley Hopkins kill pushed the Lady Bruins’ lead to 20-16, and Coahulla Creek couldn’t recover. Northwest rolled in the second game.

Sara Thomas finished with 16 kills and seven blocks during the tri-match to lead the Lady Bruins.

“There were several good things on the night, we just have to be more consistent,” Quinn said. “Sara did a good job of stepping up at the net and bringing a real presence there. Shelby Douglas played a solid defensive game, and Liz Trew had a good night of setting up a lot of kills.”

Dalton and Northwest are both in Area 7-4A, but the game did not count in the league standings. Coahulla Creek is in Area 6-3A.

Lady Colts coach Julie Norton saw plenty of positives from her team, which features a roster filled with mostlysophomores.

“I was very pleased because I can see how far we have come since the beginning of last year,” Norton said. “We are starting to play at a higher level, and that is exciting. We served the ball very aggressively all night, but we didn’t play much defense and that is something we will go back to work on (today).”

• North Murray coach Connie Hudgins did not return messages seeking results from Tuesday’s scheduled season-opening tri-match against Heritage-Catoosa and host LaFayette.

• In softball, field conditions kept Coahulla Creek and Murray County from playing a scheduled matchup in Chatsworth on Tuesday. The game has been rescheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday.聻

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Area prep roundup: Dalton volleyball opens with a sweep

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