Dawg Tennis gets ‘W’ back; Lady Dawgs 4-4 at Volleypalooza

By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove Bulldawg Tennis team rebounded from their first back-to-back losses of the season at the Midway Team Tennis Tournament with a solid home win over Ellison 18-1 on Friday.
“We have been struggling somewhat the last couple of matches, and missing some key people from our line-up,” said Copperas Cove head tennis coach Paul Talbett.  “We needed to have a good match to get us going back in the right direction, and tonight we got it.”
Despite still being down four players on the girls’ side and the no. 1 player on the boys’ side, the Dawgs roared through doubles to take a 7-0 lead into singles.
The boys absolutely dominated doubles, only giving up two games in all three matches. Gavin Glick and Jalen Nix won 6-0, 6-2 while Ari Diaz/Noah Samarippa and Isiah Ramirez/Dalton Heil blanked their opponents 6-0, 6-0.
It was a tougher struggle for the girls.
Alyssa Gonzalez and Zamira Manuel fought off their Ellison counterparts 7-6(3) in the first set and 6-4 in set two to earn the win. 
The path was very similar for Cove’s Domonique Jackson and Shayla Pollot as they escaped the first set 7-6(3) before running away with set two 6-1.
It took all three sets for Telsa Mackwelung and Alex Peralta to get past Ellison’s Keyser/Onsna 2-6, 6-4 (10-7).
The mixed doubles team of Ethan Hernandez and Paige Purdum also earned a win over Ellison’s Jacob Dean/Natalia Goodman 6-2, 6-3 to complete the doubles’ sweep.
The Dawgs then claimed all but one singles match to claim the 18-1 victory and move to 9-4 on the season with just a week to go before their first district clash of the year at home against Killeen at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5.
“We came out strong against Ellison taking a 7-0 lead coming out of doubles,” said Talbett.  “We went into singles and continued the momentum to pull out the 18-1 win.”
The boys were again unchallenged in singles as they beat their opponents 72 sets to 14 in the six matches. 
Nix and Kevin Gillespie each surrendered just one set each while Ramirez and Ben Fernandez lost two games apiece. Hernandez and Samarippa lost four sets each.
It was a lot tougher road again for the girls who captured five of six sets.
The only loss for Cove was Gonzalez in the no. 1 spot against Ellison’s Goodman. Gonzalez won the first game 6-3 before falling 6-3 in the second set and 10-7 in the tiebreaker.
Jackson had to work hard too in the No. 6 slot, but managed to come out on top of the three-set affair. Jackson won 7-6(3) in set one before dropping set two 4-6. She rebounded in the extra frame with a 10-4 score to earn the win.
Manuel took both sets to overtime but survived each 7-6(2), 7-6(3). The rest of the slate won handily. Purdum won 7-5, 6-0; Peralta won 6-1, -6-1 and Mackwelung won 6-2, 6-2.
The Dawgs get back on the court today at Georgetown and will travel to Temple to face the Wildcats on Friday before returning home for a quad tournament with Brownwood, Ellison and Taylor. 
The Dawgs then host the Roos in the District 8-6A opener next Tuesday.
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Lady Dawg Volleyball splits at Volleypalooza
The Lady Dawg Volleyball team opened up the tournament with a daunting task in facing the Class 6A no. 11-ranked (Texas Girls Coaches Association) Cypress Ranch squad where they battled to a third set but eventually fell 25-19, 24-26, 8-25.
The Lady Dawgs then rebounded with straight-set wins over Cedar Ridge 25-15, 25-20 and Mansfield Legacy 25-11, 26-24 to finish day one 2-1.
The scenario flip-flopped on day two as the Lady Dawgs swept the first match of the day against Cleburne 25-19, 25-20 before losing in straight sets to McKinney (19-25, 21-25) and 6A no. 1 ranked (TGCA) San Antonio Reagan (19-25, 17-25).
The Lady Dawgs split on the final day of the tournament to move to 4-4 in the tourney and 22-8 on the season.
Cove lost to Denton Ryan in a marathon three-set match. Cove took the first game 25-23 but fell 23-25 in set two and 22-25 in set three.
Cove then closed out the tournament with a 28-26, 25-18 win over Vista Ridge to close the tournament and improve to 22-8.
Junior Aidan Chace had 64 kills in the tournament to lead the Lady Dawgs. She was also first in blocks with 15, aces with four and was second in assists with 75. Junior Kamryn Ash led in assists with 113 for the tourney and junior Kristen Wasiak had 121 digs in the tournament to lead that category. Sophmore Leah Poell contributed 35 kills and 59 digs in the tournament and senior Talia Kinslow added eight blocks and a second-best 38 kills. 
The Lady Dawgs travel to Libery Hill tonight to face the Lady Panthers before traveling to Temple on Friday and closing the non-district slate against Waco Robinson at home next Tuesday. The Lady Dawgs open the District 8-6A slate at Killeen on Friday, Sept. 8.