Lady Ramblers make a statement against Ridgeland
Before his team’s Area 6-4A showdown with No. 8-ranked Ridgeland last Tuesday night, LaFayette head volleyball coach Chris Logan said he was anxious to see which version of his team would show up.
As it turns out, it was the one he was hoping for.
In a season that has seen Ridgeland, Heritage and Northwest Whitfield establish themselves as contenders to win the area title in October, LaFayette threw its name into the hat in a big way with a 19-25, 25-19, 25-17 home win over their Walker County rivals.
“I was still kind of curious (about which team would show up) in that first set,” Logan said. “We had a ton of mistakes, but I had to remind them that the match was still close. We just kept playing hard as we could, like we did against Heritage (in the Coosa Invitational). We just ran a little short in that one, but tonight we stayed positive, put the ball on (Ridgeland’s) side of the court and stayed aggressive.”
After both teams opened the night with straight set victories over Pickens, Ridgeland (15-3, 1-1) controlled the vast majority of the first set and took a commanding 2314 lead late. However, LaFayette would score five straight points to make things interesting neat the end and that little run seemed to give the Lady Ramblers a spark that carried them into the rest of the match.
Tied 7-7 in the second set, LaFayette clicked off an 8-2 run to go ahead by six points. Ridgeland would cut the lead down to 17-15, but the Lady Ramblers turned up the hustle on defense. They made some outstanding digs and won some long rallies, getting three nicely-placed push shots by setter Jade Maggard before Karissa Tatum used a final kill to send them match to a third set.
The two teams battled tooth-and-nail for much of the final set. The score was tied numerous times, the last at 16-16, with neither team able to go up by more than two points until LaFayette would finally go on a decisive run.
Three hitting errors and two put-aways by Tatum put her team up by five as Ridgeland desperately tried to answer. They turned to all-star hitter Te’a Owens, who hammered shot after shot at LaFayette, but the Lady Ramblers’ defense held firm and simply refused to let the ball hit the floor.
Tatum would come up with a huge block at 24-17 and one final Ridgeland hitting error would signal the end of the match and the start of the celebration on the LaFayette side of the court.
Logan said some extra defensive work in practice on Monday paid major dividends.
“We worked big time just on spot coverage,” he explained. “I told them yesterday in practice that it was going to be as boring as can be, but we spent probably 30 minutes just covering spots and getting to where we’re supposed to be. I guess one day of practice was good enough, because I don’t think we’ve ever transitioned like we did tonight.”
Tatum had 10 kills, a pair of aces and came up three big blocks to help her team to the win. Maggard collected 18 assists, four kills and two aces. Gracie Stier and Jillian Morgan finished with five kills each and Katie Dixon added four.
Owens had another enormous night for Ridgeland, recording 19 kills, 12 digs and three aces. Taylor Williams had 28 assists and five digs, while Zady Carden finished with four kills and three aces. Other contributors for the Lady Panthers included Haleigh Fogtman (3 kills), Jamese Miller (3 kills, 3 digs), Shelby Medlin (4 aces, 3 digs) and Jayda Jenkins (2 kills, 1 block).
“This is huge for us to get some momentum,” Logan added. “That win will probably bump us up a spot or two when it comes to the final area standings. Hopefully, this will help set us up for the end of the regular season, but we have to keep playing.”
LaFayette would handle Pickens by scores of 25-22 and 2519. Stier led the team with nine kills, followed by Tatum with eight, Morgan with five and Dixon with four. Dixon also added 15 digs, while Maggard had 20 assists.
Ridgeland scored a 25-18, 25-11 win over the visitors from Jasper. Owens picked up 14 kills and four aces.
Fogtman had six kills, while Miller added three. Williams finished with 19 assists and three aces.
LaFayette has to settle for Thursday split
The Lady Ramblers followed up their big area sweep with a win at Christian Heritage on Thursday. However, they couldn’t keep the momentum going against a solid Coosa squad, who came back to beat LaFayette in
three sets.
LaFayette had little trouble with the host Lady Lions, winning 257 and 25-14. They took the first set against the Lady Eagles by a 25-12 count, but lost the next two sets, 25-19 and 25-18.
“Coosa made some mistakes in the first set and we capitalized on them,” Logan stated. “Then in the second and third sets, they quit making mistakes and we kept playing the same. We’ve got to keep working and get that ‘finishing mentality’.”
Tatum had 15 kills, nine aces and two blocks on the night.
Stier added nine kills and Morgan recorded five. Dixon finished with four kills and four aces and Maggard had 21 total assists and a pair of kills.
Other contributors included Emily Redden (6 assists, 3 kills), Kensley Baugh (3 kills) and Malin Thorsen (3 aces).
LaFayette (1012 overall) will join Adairsville for a trimatch at Ringgold on Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m., while Ridgeland will take the court again on Thursday when they join Ringgold for a trimatch at red-hot Gordon Lee.