Lady Bobcats show resiliency in first win of season
Just before her team took the floor at Barnes Gymnasium for their Labor Day match against the Covenant College junior varsity volleyball team this past Monday, Georgia Northwestern head coach Carrie Powell made something of a prediction.
“I’ve got a good feeling about tonight,” she said with a hint of confidence.
As it turned out, Powell knew what she was talking about.
The Lady Bobcats not only won their first match of the 2016 season, they did so in straight sets, sweeping the Lady Scots, 25-23, 25-22 and 25-23, and silencing a mostly partisan Covenant crowd.
“We had a really good practice on Friday and worked on our main rotation, which we didn’t get to do before the matches against Vance Granville (Aug. 27),” she explained. “We were confident coming in here tonight. I told them (before the match) that I thought we could win and they went out and did it.”
Georgia Northwestern, whose entire roster is stocked with new, first-year players this season, showed the resiliency of seasoned veterans on Monday. They trailed by at least four points early in each of the three sets, but each time, the Navy-and-Silver dug in deep and battled back to fend off the Lady Scots and grab their first win.
Covenant’s crowd was loud and rowdy early as their team jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the initial set. But the Lady Bobcats regrouped after a time-out and began to slowly and surely chip away at the deficit, eventually tying things up at 17 before taking a 20-17 lead.
The Lady Scots would answer with three straight points of their own, but Sierra Crew and Kaitlyn Castle blasted kill shots to give Georgia North- western a two-point cushion and a hitting error and a serving error by Covenant gave the Lady Bobcats the first set.
Georgia Northwestern fell behind 10-6 in the second set, but climbed back into it and grabbed a 21-17 lead. As they did in the first set, the Lady Scots rallied to things up at 22, but another kill by Castle and a timely block by Madalyn Morrison put the Lady Bobcats at set point. An unreturnable serve by libero Shelby Thompson would give Georgia Northwestern a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Then, in what turned out to be the final set of the night, the Lady Bobcats again trailed by four points in the opening stages, only to once again show their grit. They rallied to go in front, 15-12, and used two consecutive aces by Crew and a huge kill by Castle to take a 22-20 lead.
Covenant wouldn’t go quietly, fighting back to win two straight points to knot the set up at 22, but the Lady Bobcats refused to be denied. They outlasted Covenant for a big point at 23-22, showing some incredible hustle and self-sacrifice on digs and a Lady Scots hitting error brought them to match point.
A block by Morrison would go out of bounds on the next play to keep Covenant alive, but only temporarily as one final serve by the Lady Scots would find the net, sending the Lady Bobcats into celebration.
Crew and Castle each led the offense with five kills on the evening, while Morrison picked up four kills. Thompson had a team-high 13 digs, while Serena Turner led the team with 17 assists.
“I felt like I was on a roller coaster tonight and they were really stressing me out,” said a relieved Powell afterward. “But they proved they have fight and that they can fight when they are down. We had some leaders on the court tonight. Every time when we were down, I looked out there and saw them picking each other up and telling them to keep going. They really fought hard tonight.”
Georgia Northwestern dropped to 1-3 on the season after losing in four sets to The Crown College in Powell, Tenn. on Saturday. Individual statistics were unavailable as of press time.
The Lady Bobcats were scheduled to play on Monday at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tenn. They will be back on the road next Monday (Sept. 19) in Dayton, Tenn. against the Bryan College JV squad.