Lady Dawgs split district contests; prepare for Belton tonight
By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs split a pair of road contests at Harker Heights on Friday and at Waco Midway on Tuesday to move to 21-9 on the season and 3-1 in District 12-6A action.
As the football team was getting set to take on the Manor Mustangs on Friday, the Lady Dawgs were wrapping up a 3-0 sweep on the Lady Knights last Friday.
Senior Leah Powell had 14 kills to pace the Cove offense to a 25-11, 25-13, 25-14 sweep. Senior Janice Fa’aola added seven kills and senior Sam Ingram chipped in four more.
Junior Emily Vanderpoel set up the offense with a team-high 18 assists while Ingram added 10. Vanderpoel also led with three aces with sophomore Emma Wasiak following with two.
Sophomore Kyra Gaston and junior Larissa Melendez led the defense at the net with three blocks each while Powell had 16 serves received and Wasiak had 13 digs to lead the back-row defense.
The Lay Dawgs returned to the road on Tuesday with their toughest test of district play at Waco Midway.
After falling a set down with a 21-25 loss to open the contest, the Lady Dawgs rallied to knot the match at one set apiece with a 25-21 second set.
However, the Pantherettes finished strong with a 25-20 win in set three and a 25-16 win in set four to close out the match.
Powell again led the Lady Dawgs’ offensive attack with 14 kills followed by Fa’aola with 10. Powell also had three blocks and Fa’aola added another. Wasiak led the back-row defense with 31 digs while Powell added 19 and Fa’aola had 14.
The Lady Dawgs will face another tough test tonight when the Belton Lady Tigers come to town. The Tigers are 11-18 overall but are undefeated in district at 3-0. Belton suffered a three-match losing streak heading into district play, but they have since reeled off three straight wins to set up a meaningful early season matchup as Belton it tied with Midway atop the district standings and Cove is tied with Ellison at 3-1 and Temple sits just behind at 2-2.
The Lady Tigers survived a road scare at Temple where they lost the opening set 20-25 before winning 25-13, 26-24 and 25-22 to secure the win.
The Lady Tigers then swept an always challenging Ellison Lady Eagles squad at home on Friday.