Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Livingston Academy Lady Cats scratched and clawed their way into a 3-2 (13-25, 25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11) win over White County on Monday.
It was White County who came out and set the tone early, as they went up 13-4 in the first set. This led to a 12-point set win for the Warriorettes, leading to a 1-0 deficit for head coach Christie Jenkins’ squad.
“I just told them that we’ve got to play ball,” Jenkins said about the slow start. “That’s all you can do. You’ve got to get focused, and you’ve got to be confident in yourself…they’re just not confident yet. Once they get some confidence, we’ll keep getting better.”
Jenkins’ speech in the huddle worked, as the Lady Cats won the next two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-19. A back-and-forth fourth set saw White County tie the match score at 2-2, but Livingston maintained their composure to win the final set by a score of 15-11.
For Jenkins, it’s the same type of victory they had over Upperman a week ago: a slow start that forced Livingston to fight from behind to earn the win.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Jenkins said. “We start out slow and then we build up. Then, we relax, and then at the end, we love to fight our way back in to win.”
Despite the slow starts, Jenkins maintains that her team’s never-give-in mentality is one of the biggest positives of the early season.
“We’ve got the grit, we’ve just got to (start better),” Jenkins said. “We’re still learning and trying to adjust…I’m proud of our kids, we just have a lot more work to do.”
