Holy Frijole, Lady Bulldog Fans!!
2008 Magnolia HS Lady Bulldogs going UP !!
Your 2008 edition of the Magnolia High School Lady Bulldog Volleyball team is off to an exciting and even more, impressive start! While mixing a lethal combination of experience and youth, the DAWGS overcame a marathon session of a match over a talented, senior-laden, 'long-of-tooth' Tomball High School Lady Cougar team in 4 sets (3-1) with still-fresh legs pulling away in the finale. These are the very same Lady Cougars who are favored to win their district (and beyond) by most of the volleyball community. They very well may get there. These ladies are battle-tested, tall, very talented and oh yeah, 'across town' rivals! The opener started with a 32-30 nail-biter of a win, then followed with another sizzler 27-25 win, a 22-25 loss, and again, turned around with a solid 25-16 victory for the DAWGS who have preserved their home win streak (which is now 25 matches in a row!) Of course, the paramedics were relieved to not be working on behalf of their excited patients, as well!The DAWGS were led by the high-flyin' senior OH Kelli Stewart who mauled the Lady Cougars for a game high 29 kills. Rumor has it that Kelli reportedly got a text message from her Coug buddies chiding and complimenting her after the match, saying "she'd beaten their team ... single-handily, all by herself!" Kind words and earned praised, indeed! Sounds like the tired Cougars may have had a little conditioning practice after their 4 set match....
Soph setter Paige Holland setting one of her 56 assists.
The message may have been accurate, but the Magnolia fans also saw a resourceful, focused, and determined, supporting cast with the likes of Soph Setter Paige Holland's 56 assists, 2 Kills, and 1 solo Block; Soph OH Katzy Randall's 12 Kills and 2 Assist Blocks; Sr MB Breane Matula's 11 Kills and 2 Assist Blocks; and a surging Sr MB/OH Meagan Little who had 9 Kills, 1 Solo and 2 Assist Blocks while practically controlling the final set; Libero Sr Hannah Davies who's great passing and 15 Digs jacked the team up and kept the ladies moving in the right direction. The DAWGS when clicking on all cylinders, looked very sharp and came at Tomball from everywhere up front and from the back row. The passing and defensive coverage was very effective and kept a very good Tomball team on their heels for the evening. The Lady Cougars probably have had better nights with their serve receiving, but the exchange of "Serve" and "Serve Receive" errors between the 2 teams was close to being even with maybe a slight advantage going to the DAWGS. The Cougs however, were also bludgeoned by Kelli Stewart's jump serve that yielded 4 Aces, Soph Courtney Felinski's 3 Aces, Paige Holland's 2 Aces, Katzy Randall's 2 Aces, and Meagan Little's 1 Ace and no doubt will be the subject matter for Cougar practices to come!
Senior LB Hannah Davies saved this
one of 15 for her team mates.
The first set had the DAWGS surprising their guests with 4 straight points behind Kelli 'BAM BAM' Stewart blasts, and had a seemingly solid lead at 10-4. The Cougs were having some problems with their serve receiving and found themselves in a hole at 18-8, before they made some adjustments and fought their way back into this game. What Tomball did was outscore Magnolia 10-4 and were in the hunt at 22-18. A few errors later, and the set was tied at 23-23 and it was crunch time. The next 4 tie breakers were held by Tomball, before Magnolia had their first tie breaker advantage at 28-27, brief as it was until Tomball had the upper hand at 29-28 with a great block at the net. A Tomball out-of-bounds tip followed at 29-29 and a setting error put Magnolia on top at 30-29. Breane Matula had a timely dink for the DAWGS advantage at 31-30, and a hit in the net sealed the deal for the DAWGS at 32-30. What a match. What an opening match!!
An impressive evening of 29 Kills for
unstoppable senior Kelli Stewart!
Set 2 was played closer to the vest with 16 tied scores with both teams flexing their muscles to see who was going to control the match going forward. The fans probably began to wonder whether the games between these 2 rivals should just start at 24-24 and play "sudden-death ball" and let the winner take all. It would probably take 4 hours, anyway! Set 2 was highlighted by Magnolia's great team effort. Along with another impressive Kelli Stewart performance, Meagan Little took control of the set near the end, along with Katzy Randall to push the DAWGS over the edge from 25-25 with timely kills of their own. DAWGS: 27 COUGARS: 25.
Coach J urging the team forward for the win!
Set 3 started out with a wounded Tomball team that jumped on the DAWGS with a 4 point edge at 4-8 only to lose it temporarily with tied scores at 8-8 and 9-9. But the Cougs regrouped and from that point, never relinquished the lead going forward in this one. The closest the DAWGS could come was 2 points at the end of the set 22-24. Tomball may have gotten that ol' sinking feeling again, even if it was for just a moment, but closed it out with a generous Magnolia serving error at 25-22. Put a win in the column for the team in RED.
Senior MB Breane Matula's scoring surge in the final set
closed the door for any Cougar thoughts of a comeback.
The final set was "ALL DAWG.. vintage "ALL DAWG"! Though it is not the normal protocol to lead the entire match without losing the momentum and the lead several times, the DAWGS did just that - much to the appreciation of the fans! I think everyone wanted this one to be over, and over soon! Again Kelli Stewart was relentless with another 10+ Kills in the set. Kelli mixed her shots up with crosscourt kills, kills down the line, through the double team defenders, over the top, etc ... you name it, she did it! Breane Matula had an outstanding set with a stretch of 5 points for the 'good guys' when the DAWGS began to assert themselves for good! Paige Holland's quick sets turned into quick Breane kills, which resulted in quick points at 13-11, 14-11, and 15-12. Breane's kill at 17-12 forced Tomball to try to break the momentum by calling for their final timeout, only to resume play and have Breane block the next Tomball attack for a lead of 6 at 18-12. The DAWGS never looked back and rattled of 7 points to Tomball's 4 to put this highly anticipated match behind them and the season off to a good start.
The Lady Bulldogs had a short moment
to savor the well deserved win!
The DAWGS will be travelling to Duncanville Wednesday morning for Thursday matches, and to try to improve on their 3rd Place finish last year and we wish the ladies the best! "Good Luck DAWGS,
Bring Home the Gold!!"
