In the end, it was the hungry Lady Wolves who outgunned the Lady Bulldogs and played great defense at the right times to close them out 3-1. The Lady Bulldogs dropped the first set 19-25, won the second 25-21, then let set #3 get away from them 21-25, and finally fell under Plano West’s wheels at 18-25. Michele Williams led the DAWGS’ hitters with 16 kills, 2 block assists and 5 serving aces; followed by Hannah Fort’s 11 kills, 2 aces, with 1 solo block and 3 assists. Junior Alicia Shaffer added 8 kills, 3 block assists, 8 digs and 3 aces of her own; and was followed by OH Kristyn Bergen’s 6 kills, 2 block assists and 22 digs; and senior DS Anna Barren’s 12 digs. Senior Caitlin Holland and Hannah Davies split their assists evenly at 19 each.
In set #1, the Lady Bulldogs did not seem able to get on track as their only lead of the match was at 1-0, which was right before Plano West went on a 10 to 3 run extending their widest margin at 6 points. The DAWGS made a great effort in pulling alongside the Wolves with a little romp of their own, scoring 5 to Plano’s 1 at 9-11, then by remaining close to Plano by at least 2 points for the majority of the rest of the game, up until 18-19, that is…when the DAWGS uncharacteristically, stalled and managed only 1 more point to the Lady Wolves 6 at crunch time. The natives got a little restless, not really knowing what to expect against the favored Lady Wolves, but the general feeling on both sides of the net was: “…. the DAWGS could hang with this team !!”
Lady Bulldog Hannah Fort rejected this Lady Wolves attack singlehandedly.
Set #2 erupted with a 3-0 burst at the starting gate by Plano West. The DAWGS battled back behind the strength of the Lady Bulldogs middle rotation, namely: Michele Williams and MB Hannah Fort. Both of the juniors repeatedly hammered Plano West through 10 ties in this game with combinations of kills and ace serves. Both middles actually earned all of Magnolia’s earned points in this set, except for a Hannah Davies’ ace serve. Once this game was tied at 3-3, neither team would lead by more than 2 points, until late in the game when Michele Williams went on a “service scoring spree” and broke free from a 20-20 tie, running off 4 points to have a death grip at the Wolves’ throat at 24-20. After giving up the next point, Plano served to the DAWGS who 1-2-3’d (pass, set, killed) to Hannah Fort who jammed ‘em with her Glide shot down the right line 25-21, winning this one impressively, and tying the match up 1-1. The general feeling on both sides of the net now, was: “……. the DAWGS can beat this team !!“
MB Michele Boom Boom Williams went after Plano West for 16 kills.
With renewed life, the DAWGS took off running in the 3rd set and led most of the way until they “hit the wall”. Again Michele Williams and Hannah Fort led the attack, but this time they got more help from their teammates with OHR Ashlynn Newman getting a kill at 2-1; a couple of kills by Alicia Shaffer (at 6-6, and 8-7). Magnolia maintained a 4 point spread in the middle of the game and began to look like they were showing everyone and anyone who ever had questioned themselves about how good this team really is, ….“that they are for real”. However, Plano was far from finished, trailing 19-14 and again, challenged the DAWGS in the waning part of the game. Somehow, the Lady Wolves recaptured the momentum and blew by the DAWGS scoring 7 straight, to lead at 21-19. The DAWGS could not re-coup from this surge, and traded a couple of points to finish on the under-side of a 25-21 loss. The worm had turned…
The ball was going NOWHERE once Lady Bulldogs teammates
Michele Williams and Kristyn Bergen joined forces...
Set #4 started out with the DAWGS jumping on top with a 5-1 lead and a stronger sense of urgency, but Plano West doused out the flame with cold water and 8 straight points and would not let the DAWGS close enough to even ‘sniff’ at the lead until a brief reprieve at 14-13 when Alicia Shaffer burned them on an ace serve. The teams traded points and the lead briefly, but the Lady Wolves out-hit the DAWGS in this all-important stretch by a 12-4 margin and ended the Lady Bulldog’s hopes of bringing home this year’s State Championship trophy…
Coach J giving the Lady Bulldogs last minute adjustments.
The Lady Bulldogs should look back on this season’s accomplishments with great pride and honor. From their summer camp, to the Duncanville and Pearland tournaments’ successes; to avenging and whupping all their former district rivals (Cy Creek, Langham Creek, Cy Fair); to streaking through an undefeated district championship; and sweeping the former team they lost to in the ’05 playoffs (Memorial Lady Mustangs); to post season honors like: Bi-district and Area Champs, and Regional Quarterfinalists, and finally, on to one of four teams fighting it out for the Regional Semifinals!! The DAWGS were basically 1½ winning sets away from having a great shot at the Regional Championship and being in the “big Dance” in San Marcos. To drill down on this farther, when you look at this season under a microscope - you'll probably find that it came down to just a couple of points that ending up separating them from the ultimate prize..
The ladies' volleyball program at Magnolia has been growing and getting better each season and the DAWGS have been making up new ground with each step forward (you’ll notice, I didn’t say new “territory” – when talking about DAWGS!!). The steps have not been easy as the Bulldogs have had to re-establish themselves through unexpected and rapid re-districting changes; the move a little while back into the 5A division, and playing from the start in arguably the toughest and most competitive volleyball districts in Region 3 i.e. 16-5A and the ever popular district: 17-5A the” “District of Death”. This year was no different. The relatively ‘unknown’ DAWGS were redistricted and now thrown into Region 2 with some of the strongest, most experienced and athletically-talented teams from the North Texas Dallas area, to Houston and over to the Austin areas and have had to respectively, 'muscle' their way in as the newbies….
The Lady Bulldogs have had a great run of 19 straight match victories up to this junction and played ‘good-enough’ volleyball to beat the best teams in the state, and in particular this third ranked team in the state! It didn’t happen for our ladies this evening, as it was just not the DAWGS’ night …. it belonged to Plano West. Some who aren't as familiar with this team, might say the DAWGS accomplished a lot more than they expected, but most Bulldog fans, prognosticators, former and current coaches, media types, volleyball aficionados and “locals in-the-know” would tell you to 'a person', that they’ve known all along, that this group of ladies actually would be going all the way, in 2007 ..... and they've been reminding us about it since the players were in the seventh grade!!!
GREAT JOB LADIES !!! LADY BULLDOG PRIDE !!!
