Magnolia Lady Bulldog Volleyball: DAWGS Enter District Play vs Conroe

Hannah Davies (2) and Michele Williams (3) had a busy and

productive evening against district rival foe: the Conroe Lady Tigers.

The Magnolia Lady Bulldogs opened their 2007 District play in fine fashion Friday night September 21st, against a fiesty Lady Tiger squad, sweeping Conroe is 3 overpowering sets (25-13, 25-19, and 25-15). The DAWGS rode the shoulders of their All American middle hitter and blocker Michele 'Boom Boom' Williams who blasted Magnolia's northern neighbor rival for 16 Kills and 2 block assists and with Jamie Kaleh who contributed 10 kills of her own, along with 1 block assist and her 15 digs. As always, the supporting cast made the difference with Hannah Fort's 6 kills, 1 solo and 1 block assist; Alicia Shaffer's 5 kills, 1 block assist, 11 digs and 4 ace serves; Kelli Stewart's 3 kills, 1 solo and 1 block assist; Meagan Little's 2 kills; Ashlynn Newman's 1 kill; Brittany Wheaton's 17 digs; Hannah Davies' 22 assists and 3 ace serves, and Paige Holland's 14 assists. Spreading the wealth around with this type of play will make it tougher for any opponent to outgun the DAWGS...

Boom Boom Williams has added another unstoppable

kill shot to her arsenal. It's called the Texas Sidewinder!

The only time the Lady Bulldogs trailed in the first set was at the first point when Conroe blocked a kill attempt, but Magnolia quickly tied things up behind some solid defense and a shot off the Lady Tigers' paws by Michele Williams at 3-1; then a couple of non-returnable serves from Alicia Shaffer to put the score at 5-1; a kill by Jamie Kaleh at 6-2; and another hit off the defenders' hands at 8-2 put the DAWGS in the driver's seat for the evening! The DAWGS stretched the lead to 7 at 15-8 behind Kaleh's and Hannah Fort's hitting and then blew the set wide open outscoring the Lady Tigers 10 to 5 with a pair of Williams' kills and block points at 22-9 and a couple more Shaffer ace serves to widen the score at 24-9; then generously allowed Conroe to creep in 4 more points before Boom Boom slammed a patented shot to the floor at the top of her glide and snatched the last breath from the Lady Tigers at 25-13.

Lady Bulldog setter Paige Holland setting to ball for one of her 14 assists.

Set 2 started out the same (DAWGS lose first point and jump ahead by 3 behind 2 Williams' points at 4-1) but a series of miscues kept this one from getting totally out of control. The Lady Tigers were able to tie the score at 6-6, 8-8, and 9-9 and keep close to Magnolia, but the experience and the depth and power of the front line along with some great passing and setting became more apparent as the DAWGS again stretched ahead by 5 at 18-13. A (timely) time out by Conroe brought the Lady Tigers' mojo back and closed the score to 2 at 21-19, but passing errors and a Williams' bomb at 23-19, and a (game ending) serve receive error poisoned any Lady Tiger hopes of clipping the DAWGS at the wire (or even another point in the game for the matter) ... set 2 in the books 25-19.

Meagan Little and Michele Williams controlled the right side against Conroe.

In the third set, Magnolia never relinquished the lead starting with a Boom Boom Glide at 1 -0; a Jamie Kaleh shot off the Tigers' paws at 3-1; another Williams' blast at 5-2; then another Kaleh kill at 6-4; an Alicia Shaffer shot and a Hannah Fort double-shot put the game at 8-4 and an emergency 911 call for some one to send an early time out for Conroe. When time was called back in, Magnolia outscored Conroe 6 to 1 putting the score 14-5 and pretty much in the position for Coach J to begin substituting and shuffling players in and out for the remainder of this one. Both teams played evenly for the rest of the set with a slight 11-10 edge going to the DAWGS making the sweep complete in 3 ... and this final score of 25-15.

The Lady Bulldogs kept the pressure on while winning their district opener.

The next match secheduled for the Lady Bulldogs is Tuesday evening at College Park and will be a great district matchup! Lets get as many DAWGIE NATION fans as we can to help support the team as they march through their district schedule!!