YOUNG GUNS
Fri, 2016-09-16 05:00
News Staff
Lady Dawgs sweep Ellison (25-22, 25-12, 25-14)with three sophomores in starting lineup
By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press
A mixture of senior leadership and youthful exuberance have the Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs volleyball team hitting on all cylinders to begin District 8-6A action.
A lull in their season near the end of the non-district schedule at the Texas Showdown Volleyball Classic after playing 30 games in 19 days allowed the Lady Dawgs to refocus on the practice floor and have since reeled off three wins to end the non-district slate and begin district play.
Cove’s latest win came in a sweep of Ellison (25-22, 25-12, 25-14) on Monday where three sophomores earned the start. Sophomore hitters Aidan Chace and Jada Close have made a big impact for the Lady Dawgs’ diverse offense with Chace leading the team in kills with 288 and Close third on the squad with 108 behind senior Brianna Acker’s 203.
Both girls came up big again against Ellison on Tuesday with Chace notching a second-best 12 kills and Close adding seven.
“It felt amazing,” Chace said after the Ellison win. “I was glad we got in there and played hard. It was just great.”
Sophomore Aviyon Wilborn is also making big contributions on the back row with a third-best 218 digs, including seven against Ellison.
“You would expect them not to be as good as they are, but they worked really hard this summer to get where they are,” said senior setter Kiarrah Carlisle. “I’m proud of them. They’ve stepped up.”
Coach Lowery knows it’s a risky proposition to have that much youth on the court at one time but feels they’ve earned their shot.
“(Brave) or crazy, I don’t know which one it is,” she said about the youthful lineup. “They’re very coachable, they’re very energetic, they do what I ask them to and they’re athletes. Two of them, I’ve had their older sisters, so they’ve really been playing Lady Dawg volleyball and been in the gym doing it for a while now. There is tremendous potential with those three.”
She also knows that it wouldn’t be possible without her leaders, especially Carlisle.
“There’s nothing prettier to me in volleyball than a pretty setter – when they make the sets look so fluid and beautiful,” said Lowery. “Kiarrah is just a phenomenal setter. Talk about coachable – she is that. You can see a dramatic difference every year, she just gets better and better. I stopped practice today to tell my young setters that, ‘If you’re not watching that setter right there, you’re missing something.’ I could do a video with her with what she does and how she moves that ball and makes it look like nothing.”
Carlisle does a good job of finding different hitters and giving different angles and her strong defensive skills puts her in better positions for the sets as well.
“If she wasn’t such a great setter, she might be a libero for me,” said Lowery. “She’s a great defensive player. I have her receiving and I have no fear ever when we play somebody that’s hitting back at my setters. We work a lot defensively with everybody but she’s just a gamer and coachable.”
Chace feels Carlisle’s leadership and variety of offensive weapons is the catalyst for the win streak.
“Kiarrah is a great setter,” she said. “She puts us in a great position to hit and get kills. It’s amazing because you don’t have to be setting one person and they get a block on us. We have different options and it allows us to get a big, boom kill and it just feels amazing for all of us.”
The Lady Dawgs had to fight off a feisty Ellison squad in the first set with Elliosn matching nearly every Cove point until the Lady Dawgs went on a 6-1 run on kills by Chace and Acker to pull ahead 22-16.
A block by Ellison’s Shauntia Landrum helped pull Ellison back within two, 22-20. A kill and block by Acker gave the Lady Dawgs game point, but kills by Landrum and Jacarta Hope prolonged the Cove win until senior Dazsa Braddock closed the set with a kill.
It was all Lady Dawgs from that point.
“We all got out of our heads and listened to the coach,” Chace said of the turnaround. “She knows what to do. We just went in there, played hard and gave it our all. It’s great that we are all finally coming together. We started off rough in the beginning but now we are all coming together.”
Cove shot out to a 6-1 lead before some miscues helped Ellison to pull within two, 9-7.
The Lady Dawgs finished the set with a 16-5 run with four of Close’s seven kills coming in that streak. Senior Madison Wasiak also had five-straight service points in the run.
A kill by Ellison’s Semira Fields staved off set-point but a mishit on the next play ended the set 25-12.
The Lady Eagles kept it close early in the third and final set with three ties and one lead through the first 21 points. Leading 11-10, the Lady Dawgs finished on a 13-3 run to close out the match. Six Lady Dawgs recorded kills during the run, along with a block from Acker and senior Chyanne Chapman.
“I thought once we corrected some passing mistakes and some hitting errors, it was good,” said Lowery. “I thought we got better as we played from game two to game three, so I’m pleased with it.”
Carlisle led the Lady Dawgs with 30 assists, Acker led the team in kills with 13, Wasiak led the team in digs with 20 and Chapman led the team in blocks with 11.
Chace didn’t lead in any category but contributed in multiple. She had a second-best 12 kills and 11 assists while adding four digs and two blocks.
“She’s been waiting for this and she’s been working for it,” Lowery said of Chace. “She’s come 100 miles since last year or last spring. She wasn’t really sure if she wanted to work that hard initially but now she’s in it. She wants it, she sees the improvement she’s made and I think she’s excited about her potential.”
The Lady Dawgs will get another chance to shine tonight when they host the Belton Lady Tigers.
“I’d like us to not play a game one like that,” said Lowery. “Start the match from the very beginning, pass better all the way through and just keep improving on the things we’ve been working on. It’s fun to get to practice and see what we’re capable of.”
Carlisle says communication will be key tonight.
“(We need to improve on) talking and communicating with each other and letting each other know where we are on the court,” she said.