|
|
Miami
East players Leah Dunivan (41) and Trina Current (5) blocks a
kill attempt by Tri-Village junior
Heather Ferris Thursday at
Tri-Village. The Patriots put up a good fight but lost in three games.
CNO Photos by George Starks
|
|
Miami East too
hot to handle
Patriots put up gallant effort in CCC loss
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- More often than not, a score will tell the whole story in
virtually any sporting event.
Thursday, that wasn’t the case with Tri-Village.
Miami East, one of the best D-III teams in Ohio, rolled into New
Madison and did what was expected, topping Tri-Village in three games,
25-6, 25-10 and 25-8.
Looking at the score, one would be inclined to say that the Patriots,
in losing by an average 17 points per game, weren’t ready.
Again, that wasn’t the case.
“We were up for this challenge,” said Patriots coach Jackie Barnes. “We
knew coming in that we were going to have to work hard. The thing that
I’m most proud of it the fact that it wasn’t a pass, set, kill
situation. We made them work for every point. We earned rallies and we
had digs on the ball and that’s all I can ask. We had more touches
tonight in a loss than we’ve had all season. We made them work for it
and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Down 2-0 in the match, the Patriots were forced to dig deep in the
third and final game.
In the final game of the match. The Patriots, who never held a lead the
whole match, held leads of 1-0, 5-3 and 6-5 before the Vikings went up
8-7.
After that, Miami East ran off in the point department. Holding a tight
9-7 lead, the Vikings reeled off 11 straight points to take a
commanding 19-8 lead.
When a team of the caliber of Miami East is supplying the opposition, a
coach will tell their kids mant things to get the team ready.
“We set small goals for ourselves,” Barnes said. “We knew what we
needed to work on and I told them, tonight, we need to work on our
passing. Our goal was to get some blocks on them and we did that. We
set miniature goals and accomplished them and we didn’t get our heads
down. We served aggressively and got a few aces. It was a positive
night.”
With the loss, the Patriots closed out the regular season with a 17-5,
8-4 CCC record and will play Covington Tuesday in the opening round of
the sectional at Piqua at 7:30 p.m.
|
|
Ferris
saves a ball Thursday against Miami East as Patriot senior Shelby
Scheips (18) looks on.
|
|
|
|
