Bulldogettes outlast Grape Creek Lady Eagles in match over the weekend
GRAPE CREEK — After a slow start, the Coahoma Bulldogettes locked away their sixth win of the season on Saturday outlasting the Grape Creek Lady Eagles in four sets: 13-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-19.
The path to victory started in the fourth set when senior MaKynlee “Rojo” Overton drilled the ball for a kill and set in motion a decisive Coahoma offensive drive.
“She is one you can always count on,” said Jamie Bonner, Coahoma Bulldogette head volleyball coach. “You can tell her, ‘I need you to put the ball away' and she will be like ‘I got you.' She can execute that. She definitely helped us out today.”
Overton, a four-year varsity volleyball player, notched a team high of 12 kills in the match.
“Coach Bonner said we are more of a hitting team, so I knew that if I gave my hits at 100 percent, they couldn't catch them, so I did my best to give 100 percent,” Overton said.
After Overton's kill, Coahoma went on to build an 11-1 point lead before the Lady Eagles started a slow comeback. Grape Creek came within three points (22-19) and nearly stole the game away.
“You can't underestimate a team like Grape Creek,” Bonner said. “They put us back on our heels a little bit, and we were not expecting them to do it. Kudos to Grape Creek for coming back, but we finally got it together to pull it out.”
How Coahoma ended their match against Grape Creek was a complete reversal of how they began play. Early on in the opening set, the Dawgettes fell behind quickly and couldn't make up the points dropping the first game.
“We were slow moving our feet, we were not talking to each other,” Bonner said. “They completely had us out of our game. I told them after that first set, we've got to play our game.”
After that, it became a match of which team could outlast the other for the next two sets of long rallies and spectacular saves. Overall, the Bulldogettes tallied 36 digs led by senior Julia Cox, who had a team high of 10.
As the closely-fought match dragged on, Bonner said her strategy was to keep her Bulldogettes focused on what they do best.
“I told them that Grape Creek is great defensively,” she said. “We had long rallies. I told them we just have to execute and finish those long rallies with a point. Grape Creek tips a lot. We don't. We hit the ball. We started tipping just a little too much, so I told them we don't play their game, we play our game. One of our strengths is to hit the ball.”
The win leaves Coahoma at 6-1 which is one of the Bulldogettes' best opening season records for the for some time.
“I think we are going to go deep in the playoffs,” Overton said. “We have a good team this year, and we all have each other's backs, so I think we are going to go pretty far.”
Courtesy Photo
Next: Coahoma hosts the Lubbock Titans on Saturday. JV Red will play at 11 a.m., the varsity game begins at noon.