by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Lady Cavs earned a hard-fought district victory on Thursday night, as they took down Lebanon 3-1 at home.
A spirited opening set saw Lebanon take leads at 15-11 and 19-16 before Cookeville came storming back for the 26-24 victory. Lebanon answered back quickly in the second set however, as they stifled multiple Lady Cavs comeback attempts to tie the match with a 25-20 victory.
This is where Alanah Craig and Bethany Phillips each turned their play up a notch, as back-to-back kills by Phillips and an ace from Craig gave the Lady Cavs an 11-6 lead to open the frame. Another Phillips kill wrapped up a 4-1 run to push the lead to 15-7, and it was all Cookeville from there, as the Lady Cavs took the third set 25-16.
The fourth set saw a back-and-forth beginning, as both teams struggled to create any kind of momentum to take control of the frame. A Craig kill gave Cookeville a 17-14 lead late however, and the Lady Cavs closed out the victory from there with a 25-17 win in the set.
For first-year head coach Staci Wiegand, she had plenty to be pleased with on Thursday evening, as her team had to fight and claw their way to this win.
“I thought we played great for the most part, it was very exciting and back-and-forth,” Wiegand said. “We carried the momentum though, and that’s the most important part.”
Craig and Phillips served as the two jump-starters for the offense, and for Cookeville to continue improving, Wiegand knows it’s imperative for those two to be at the forefront.
“They are definitely our momentum-builders,” Wiegand said. “As outside hitters, they run the court well, and we absolutely used that to our advantage.”
The season’s still young and there’s a long way to go before anyone begins thinking about the postseason. As far as what she wants to see better out of her team, Wiegand says that she really wants to see the passing improve, as it’s something that stuck out to her from the match.
“A lot of our passes tonight were out of system,” Wiegand said. “We’re going to work twice as hard to get our passes in system.”
Cookeville will be back in action on Tuesday when they take on Oakland.
