Lady Dawgs win playoff tune-up match over No. 11 Hutto 3-1

By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press

Seniors Aidan Chace and Christina Pettigrew, along with sophomore Janice Fa’aola, combined for 45 kills in the Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs’ playoff warm-up game against Class 5A no. 11 Hutto Friday night at Bulldawg Gymnasium.
Chace led the way with 18 kills to push her team-high total to 426 kills while senior setter Kamryn Ash improved her team-high assists to nearly 1,000 with her team-high 41 assists on Friday for a season total of 990.
The Lady Dawgs (40-3 overall, 14-2 in District 12-6A) defeated the Lady Hippos (36-9, 12-0 in District 18-5A) in four sets 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 25-14.
Four Lady Dawgs registered double-digit digs, led by junior Leah Powell with 25. Ash and senior libero Aviyon Wilborn added 15 apiece and Chace added 12 and Powell led the way in serves received with 46. Powell also added another nine kills to the Lady Dawgs’ total of 59 for the match.
Pettigrew had eight blocks to lead the front row defense of the Lady Dawgs while senior Jada Close chipped in seven.
The Lady Dawgs will play Mesquite Horn (18-23 overall, 8-4 in District 11-6A) in the Bi-district round of the 2018 Volleyball State Championships tonight at 6:30 p.m. at West High School. 
The Lady Dawgs have a combined 1,464 kills for an average of 12.5 kills in 117 sets played while the Lady Jaguars have 1,036 kills in 124 sets for an average of 8.4. The Lady Dawgs nearly double the Lady Jags kill percentage at 44.9 percent to 27.5 percent.
The Lady Dawgs have 1,424 assists for a 12.2 per game average while the Lady Jags have 1,012 for an average of 8.2 assists per set.
Defensively, the Lady Dawgs have 2,059 total digs for an average of 17.6 per set while The Lady Jags have 2,323 total digs for an average of 18.7 per set.
Cove has the defensive advantage at the net, however, with 429 total blocks for an average of 4.2 blocks per set. Horn has 213 blocks for an average of 1.7 per set.
The road gets tougher for the Lady Dawgs if they are able to get by Horn. They will likely face No. 4 Prosper in the next round as the Lady Eagles face the fourth-place team Rowlett (13-22, 8-5 in District 10-6A) in the opener.
Should Cove get past no. 4 Prosper, their bracket opens up a bit as there are only three other ranked teams in no. 15 Wylie, no. 20 Austin Vandegrift and no. 24 Klein in their half of the Region II bracket.
No. 2 Conroe The Woodlands and no. 18 Garland Sachse are the only two ranked opponents in the top half of the Region II-6A bracket.