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Friday, February 19th, 2010
Although they have not even made it half way through the season it’s already been a long one for the MCS Lady Panthers volleyball team. The Lady Panthers are currently 0-5 after losing to the Lady Bulldogs of Waterloo on Thursday evening in three games 10-21, 22-20, 13-21. While the Lady Panthers haven’t gotten into the win column yet it hasn’t been because of a lack of effort. The Lady Panthers have been competitive in all of their matches, pushing three of those matches to three games as was the case Thursday against Waterloo. MCS Lady Panthers coach Jenn Missey said, “We’ve had a tough season, we just keep coming so close and we just can’t seem to get over that hurdle. I think the more games we lose the more down they get. They lose confidence in themselves and confidence in their teammates. We’re 0-5 but we’ve had some really great matches.”
The first game saw the Lady Bulldogs take an early lead and continue to build on it until they got the win. The Lady Bulldog’s good serving skills and net play gave them the advantage. The Lady Panthers displayed excellent hustle though and were able to break serve several times against the Lady Bulldogs. However the Lady Panthers couldn’t seem to hold serve for very long or sustain any scoring drives against Waterloo as the Lady Bulldogs took the first game 10-21. Coach Missey said, “We made some silly mistakes and they add up. We made some of those mistakes at some very crucial times in the match and that cost us.”
MCS came out strong in the second game completely stealing the momentum from Waterloo. The Lady Panthers opened the game on some strong serving by Alyssa Laing as MCS took an early 6-0 lead. The Lady Panthers continued to build on their lead ultimately leading by seven points at 12-5. But then the Lady Bulldogs made their move to get back into the game with a 10-3 run to tie the game at 15-15. With the second game and possibly the match on the line, the Lady Panthers dug deep and found a way to win the second game. Strong play by MCS’ Anna Fishbein, Kirby Forbeck and Alyssa Laing was crucial down the stretch for the Lady Panthers. Coach Missey said of the trio, “They’re very important to us and very reliable on the back row. They give us solid play on the back row getting to balls and making digs.” A great block at the net by Sarah Wessel with Waterloo serving game point at 19-20 also helped to propel the Lady Panthers to the 22-20 win. Coach Missey said, “Sarah’s block was pivotal, the gym just came alive.”
The third game seemed very similar to the first with a similar outcome. The Lady Panthers stayed close in the early going with the score tied 4-4. But the Lady Bulldogs took control with a 10-3 run to take a commanding 15-7 lead on their way to a 13-21 game win and match. Coach Missey said, “It’s not that we lost to a bad team. We lost to a phenomenal team tonight. Taking a loss from a team like them is a little easier but it’s still a loss.”
While the Lady Panthers have played well with great hustle and intensity, the search for their first victory this season could be difficult. Coach Missey said, “The rest of our schedule is tough. We don’t have any easy opponents from here on out. We’re looking at a difficult end to our schedule. But we have eight games left and then the conference tournament so we hope to get better and get some victories before we’re through.”
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