Cove alum battles new edition Lady Dawgs in feisty scrimmage

By TJ MAXWELL

Cove Leader-Press

With just a few days to get ready for the 2017 version of the Copperas Cove Lady Dawg Volleyball team and an even quicker turnaround for the 17 Copperas Cove alumni, it looked more like a playoff atmosphere Friday night as the 2017 Lady Dawgs took on a strong group of Division I and Division II athletes.

“It was (very competitive) and that was exciting because there were four Division I players and a couple of Division II players on (the alumni team) and the new Lady Dawgs basically had three days to get ready,” said Copperas Cove head volleyball coach Cari Lowery. “I have a lot of sophomores and juniors with only two seniors. That’s exciting to see how well they did in three days against those great athletes.”

The 17-player alumni group included University of Incarnate Word senior Bryaunea Hall and University of Texas at Arlington senior Qiana Cañete.

“It’s so exciting,” Lowery said of her largest alumni group to date. “It just makes my heart feel good. They are such good young women now. For them to have such a commitment and connection with Lady Dawg Volleyball that they want to come back and be a part of this means a lot to me.” 

Hall was recently named to the 2017 Southland Preseason All-Conference Volleyball Second Team. She finished second on the team in both kills (245) and blocks (82). She averaged 2.33 kills per and 0.78 blocks per set, while racking up 297 total points for UIW.

Cañete, who also received preseason honors from the Sun Belt Conference, was honored to be a part of the alumni game for the first time in years.

“It means a lot,” said Cañete. “The last time I was here was going in to my freshman year. I wanted to come back and play against some of the younger girls. I’m going to be a senior this year so I just wanted to come back, chill and play with them.”

It was a surreal feeling for the college senior.

“It was weird walking in here and seeing some of the girls I have not seen in literally years,” she said. “It was exciting and some of the girls still got it. They’re awesome.”

Cañete is a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference performer. She was named second-team in 2016 and as a freshman in 2014. Cañete has played in 362 sets and in 96 matches in her career. She has totaled 1,097 kills in her career, adding 1,272 digs. She ranks 13th in UTA career history in kills and 16th in digs. Cañete’s career kills total is the most for a UTA student-athlete in six years.

She embarks on her final season as a Lady Mav when the season gets underway on Aug. 25.

“It’s very exciting,” Cañete said of her senior season. “It went by so fast. This is my last year to be on the court so I’m going to play the best I can and hopefully get a conference ring and make some strides here and there.”

Having such an impressive class come back to mentor the young players is also somewhat a passing of the torch, said Lowry.

“We had a lot of good players back this year,” she said. “It’s exciting to the girls that come back because the new team on the floor is their legacy. To see the tradition of all those great kids, how they’re doing, how smart they are and how successful they’re being makes me so proud of Lady Dawg Volleyball.”

The Lady Dawgs continued their scrimmage schedule on Saturday and will host Mesquite Horn at 2:30 p.m. today with a match against Georgetown to follow at 5:30. 

The Lady Dawgs return to action in the Austin Tournament this weekend before returning home to face Lorena on Tuesday.

The 2017 varsity Lady Dawgs are sophomores Leah Powell, Janice Fa’aola and Jeala Rice; juniors Aidan Chace, Jada Close, Aviyon Wilborn, Kamryn Ash, Holly Beamesderfer, Kristen Wasiak and Christina Pettigrew; and seniors Addie Cook and Talia Kinslow.