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The Dupo Lady Tigers Varsity Volleyball team knew that the IHSA Class A Regional held at Valmeyer High School was going to be difficult, but they didn’t expect to leave so soon. The Lady Tigers who were seeded 4th in the Regional drew 5th seed Madison in the first round with the winner facing the number one seeded Valmeyer Lady Pirates. Dupo had beaten Madison twice this season and may have been looking past the Lady Trojans to a matchup with Valmeyer. Madison proved themselves to be an improved team and took the match in three games 25-23, 14-25 and 26-24. Dupo Lady Tigers Coach Jill Puckett said, “Both teams made a lot of mistakes tonight, they were able to capitalize more on ours than we were on theirs. Madison is a much improved team since the last time we saw them this year. I don’t think we took them lightly, but we were a little surprised. The better playing team won tonight, they outplayed us.”
The Lady Tigers struggled in the first and third games of the match with problems that have plagued the Lady Tigers all season. Dupo’s continual struggle to return serves and set to the net combined with communication issues that saw numerous balls hit the floor between defenders. Coach Puckett said, “I think overall we played okay, but it really took us awhile to find ourselves in that first game. We got behind quick and we have a hard time coming from behind.” The Lady Tigers dominated the second game of the match playing near error free ball racing out to an 18-3 lead. But the mistakes began to creep in again as the game wore on and the Lady Trojans started to make a game of it before finally succumbing to the Lady Tigers 25-14.
A bright spot for the Lady Tigers this year has been the play of Senior Middle Hitter Margaret Davenport and Senior Setter Meagan Moore. Davenport’s play at the net has been invaluable to the Lady Tigers this season as she is second in the St Louis area in Average Number of Blocks per game. She has been competitive at the net against teams with greater size than Dupo and an intimidating presence against smaller opponents. She is currently being recruited by Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Webster University in St Louis and Missouri Baptist University in St Louis. Moore may be a player of smaller stature but nobody plays bigger than she does on the floor. Moore is the spark and the fire on the Lady Tigers team. Her hustle, never say die attitude and energy is fun to watch. Many is the time that she has made incredible saves and digs to keep her team alive. She is currently being recruited by McKendree University in Lebanon and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Coach Puckett said of the pair, “Meagan and Margaret played their hearts out tonight, but they have all season long. They’ll be missed next year.”
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