Magnolia focuses on eliminating errors on court
naments at Pearland and Smithson Valley, and took lumps against the likes of Cy-Fair and San Angelo Central.
But their play improved, a factor of better communication and comfort.
“The biggest thing for us was learning to play together and learning to push through adversity, because they hadn’t had to do that together,” Johnson said.
In the loss to Montgomery, which Johnson said was a wakeup call, she said they were still hesitating too much on the attack.
That hesitation cost them.
Last year, the Bulldogs went 16-0 in district and didn’t drop a set until the regular-season finale.
“In that match, we made 19 service errors and 18 other unforced errors,” Johnson said. “When you give some- body 37 points, you’re not going to win.
“The main thing about that game was there were real high expectations going into district, and there always are for us, and I think they felt the pressure, a lot, and we didn’t execute what we needed to.”
A trip to the Smithson Valley tourney, which replaced Duncanville on their schedule this year, helped them recover.
They went 5-3 and played in the silver-bracket final.
Then they defeated Caney Creek in three sets and Willis in five sets in their next two district contests — without star setter/outside hitter Morgan Miller, who injured her knee in an auto accident Sept. 1.
Johnson is hoping Miller returns this week.
“It’s not a big secret that she’s probably about half our offense,” Johnson said.
The coach called the five-set win over Willis a season highlight, and, hopefully, another key turning point.
“That was probably one of the best wins, definitely that we’ve had this year, because we battled back,” Johnson said.
“We got down and they didn’t let it affect them. They kept working.”
Senior outside hitter Kerstin Jenkins made a couple big plays to help Magnolia pull out Game 5 against Willis 15-13.
Jenkins had 26 kills, 25 digs and four aces against Willis, and 23 kills against Caney Creek.
“She knows that she’s a leader, she knows that a lot of the weight’s on her shoulders, and she’s done well with that,” Johnson said.
Junior setter Lindsey Smothers, half of the Bulldogs 6-2 offense, stepped up in Miller’s absence, supplying a confidenceboosting 50 assists against Willis, as did senior right side Logan Lowry.
Senior outside hitter Ivy Fincher also came up clutch against Willis with 16 kills.
“We knew she was going to have to play left side and take Kylie (Randall’s) place, which was big shoes to fill, and she’s had really good stats,” Johnson said.
“She’s not a huge jumper, but she gets off the block, she gets shots in the middle of the court, she knows when to tip — she scores a lot of points for us.”
The Bulldogs still have their eyes on the district-title prize, which could come down to the rematch with Montgomery on Oct. 1 at home — if they keep minimizing the errors that plagued them early on.
But first they have Bryan Rudder on Friday at home.
“Montgomery sits up there at 3-0 (through three), and the rest of us are battling it out, so hopefully we’ll stay up there in the battle,” Johnson said. Jason McDaniel is a freelance writer who can be reached at rocket_3@hotmail.com.