An elated group of DAWGS howling
as they've reached match point!
Bow Wow, Bow Wow, wee indeed, Lady Bulldog fans!! If you weren't there, you undoubtedly missed the best entertainment value you couldn't have had anywhere else, with this exciting night of two local District 18-4A foes who were ready to take each other on, all in the setting of the confines of the volleyball-rich and cozy Magnolia High School gymnasium. The excitement ran high as the (21-10, 2-2) Montgomery Lady Bears came into the DAWG House with "a big road win" on their minds and the Lady Bulldogs were standing between them and their goal. The Lady Bears would have to play tough defense and be 'mistake-free' to pull it off and were prepared to do so, while they could only hope they could catch the DAWGS sleeping or perhaps, a (little) over-confident while they have been cruising and handling their first 4 district opponents rather easily. It almost smelled as if there was an upset brewing, but it turned out it was merely indigestion as the DAWGS toughened when they needed to and closed the den in a 'Dawg-eat-Bear' match 3-1.
Setter Paige Holland directed the offense with her
jump setting and finishing the evening with 47 assists.
In the first set the Lady Bulldogs scampered to a 10-2 lead behind a collection of well-earned points: a Meagan Little block (1-0), Courtney Felinski kill (2-0), a Courtney Felinski 'shuffle' kill (3-1), a Paige Holland ace (4-1), a Felinski dink (5-1), a Kelli Stewart kill (6-2), a Katzy Randall hit off the bears' arms (7-2), a Kelli Stewart ace serve (8-2), a Breane Matula hit (9-2), then another Kelli Stewart serving ace (10-2). The DAWGS looked sharp as they aggressively took the fight to their guests. The Lady Bears tried to take the action up-a-notch themselves, but at 20-11, they found themselves even farther apart than they were earlier and the best they could do was trade points to the finish - even though they couldn't afford to give any of them up. The DAWGS finished 'em off with a Meagan Little 'tip' and a 25-15 score.
Senior Meagan Little finished the job with
a victorious tip against the Lady Bears.
The Lady Bulldogs struggled in the second set while playing their brand of the Second Set Blues, as they quickly and painfully found themselves trailing by 9 with the score at 3-12. It was even uglier than that as the DAWGS had also burned a time out trying to break the momentum and turn themselves around before it got real embarrassing! Though the Lady Bears were playing well, the Lady Bulldogs scratched and clawed themselves back into the game with a working class effort and closed the gap to 3 at 16-19 with an ace serve from Angi Gould. But the DAWGS lost their Mojo and couldn't keep the ball working their way and dropped this set when they were only able to score 4 to da' Bears' 6 points and come out on the losing end: 20-25.
Team mates Courtney Felinski (6) and Breane Matula
(5) closed off this kill attempt by the Lady Bears.
The Lady Bulldogs really needed to turn this match around again...and quickly! Nothing would soothe their souls now, but a win! A Big WIN! Well the DAWGS took their doctors' advice and trailed but once in this pivotal set, and that was the first point at 0-1!! The DAWGS took advantage of 4 Lady Bears' errors and took off to a 5 point lead at 8-3 before giving 4 back at 8-7, then taking a new 5 point advantage at 15-10 before generously giving back 3 more at 15-13, then taking a larger 7 point edge at 20-13 before both teams took their gloves off for real and fought literally 'hand-to-hand' combat to the finish trading a few extra points yet, still finishing on top: DAWGS 25 to Bears 21.
Senior Kelli Stewart really gets into her work
giving it all as she hammers one by Da' Bears.
Tough one and almost agonizing with the pressure. You gotta love this game! I told you you couldn't find a more exciting thing to do than to be at the DAWG House this Wednesday night!
Well, what's going to happen now? Comeback or collapse? After all the fireworks, one couldn't help but wonder how both of these teams would react to a real close set at this point. Well, like reading a good thriller, no one was disappointed... They both did both! The Lady Bulldogs led early behind a blast from Katzy Randall to start it out at 1-0; with a couple of Meagan Little kills (2-0, 4-2) and Kelli Stewart's slamma-jammas (6-3, 7-4), only to have the Lady Bears pull up close to stay on the heels of the DAWGS (and on the scoreboard) to tie the set up when the Lady Bulldogs had a serve receive error at 9-9. The Lady Bears cranked it up a notch with kills of their own and had the edge leading by as much as 3 points at 16-13 before the DAWGS called timeout, regrouped and re-cranked it up, raising the bar several notches themselves. The DAWGS began mauling Da' Bears for 12 straight points as Courtney 'Meatman' Felinski delivered the initial shot that rejuvenated the DAWGS and closed the gap to 2 at 14-16; which lit a raging fire with Katzy Randall who then punished the Lady Bears with 5 impressive kills down the stretch (15-16 to pull the set close, a bullet at 17-16 for the lead after a Lady Bear error, another kill in the middle of the floor at 20-16, then a Happy Birthday gift from the reeling Bears at 22-16, and then the biggest kill of the evening: a big...BIG kill shot at 24-16 in the middle of the court, which brought the crowd on their feet)! Team mate Meagan Little tipped the ball on the next play for match point and the win at 25-16 and capped off another impressive, focused effort and a rewarding match win for the Lady Bulldogs.
Well, what's going to happen now? Comeback or collapse? After all the fireworks, one couldn't help but wonder how both of these teams would react to a real close set at this point. Well, like reading a good thriller, no one was disappointed... They both did both! The Lady Bulldogs led early behind a blast from Katzy Randall to start it out at 1-0; with a couple of Meagan Little kills (2-0, 4-2) and Kelli Stewart's slamma-jammas (6-3, 7-4), only to have the Lady Bears pull up close to stay on the heels of the DAWGS (and on the scoreboard) to tie the set up when the Lady Bulldogs had a serve receive error at 9-9. The Lady Bears cranked it up a notch with kills of their own and had the edge leading by as much as 3 points at 16-13 before the DAWGS called timeout, regrouped and re-cranked it up, raising the bar several notches themselves. The DAWGS began mauling Da' Bears for 12 straight points as Courtney 'Meatman' Felinski delivered the initial shot that rejuvenated the DAWGS and closed the gap to 2 at 14-16; which lit a raging fire with Katzy Randall who then punished the Lady Bears with 5 impressive kills down the stretch (15-16 to pull the set close, a bullet at 17-16 for the lead after a Lady Bear error, another kill in the middle of the floor at 20-16, then a Happy Birthday gift from the reeling Bears at 22-16, and then the biggest kill of the evening: a big...BIG kill shot at 24-16 in the middle of the court, which brought the crowd on their feet)! Team mate Meagan Little tipped the ball on the next play for match point and the win at 25-16 and capped off another impressive, focused effort and a rewarding match win for the Lady Bulldogs.
Katzy Randall took matters into her own hands leading
the DAWGS in the final set with 5 kills at crunch time.
The Lady Bulldogs were led by Kelli Stewart's 14 kills, 4 aces and 2 assist blocks; Katzy Randall's 12 kills and 2 assist blocks, Courtney Felinski's 11 kills and 1 assist block; Meagan Little's 9 kills, 2 aces, 2 assist and 3 solo blocks; Angi Gould's 2 kills and 2 aces; Hannah Davies' 18 digs, and Paige Holland's 47 assists, 1 ace and 2 block assists performance.
The Lady Bulldogs varsity will be traveling to Willis this Friday 10-3-08 along with the 9th grade, JV teams to try to sweep on the road! BE THERE!!
The Lady Bulldogs varsity will be traveling to Willis this Friday 10-3-08 along with the 9th grade, JV teams to try to sweep on the road! BE THERE!!
GO LADY BULLDOGS!!!
