by Rusty Ellis
The Clarkrange Lady Buffaloes returned to their winning ways on Tuesday evening, as they took down District 3-A foe Monterey 3-0.
A back-and-forth opening set saw both teams trade points before the Lady Buffaloes eventually took control at 12-7. A Chloe Rogers ace pushed the lead to 18-11, and CHS finished the set with a 25-16 victory.
The second set was Clarkrange domination from the start, as they opened the frame with a 6-2 lead on a Payton Manis ace, and pushed it up to 10-2 to force a Monterey timeout. The Lady Buffaloes closed the set on a 15-8 run to win it 25-10.
The final set looked a lot like the first one, but another Rogers ace kicked off a run to build a 12-6 lead for the Lady Buffaloes, and it was all she wrote from there, as the finished off the 3-0 sweep with a 25-17 win in the third.
For head coach Cindy Stowers, it was an effort that saw her team do a lot of the little things she felt they had been lacking recently.
“We played a lot more relaxed tonight,” Stowers said. “They were having more fun, hustling to the ball and talking to each other. Communication is key in this sport, and we haven’t been doing that, but we did better tonight.”
As far as why she feels the communication was better tonight, Stowers attributed it to a practice the team had after their loss to Jackson County.
“We had a pretty rough practice, we were not communicating like we should,” Stowers said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to get better at that.”
The season is moving quickly along and before you know, it’ll be tournament time. Stowers says she hopes her team builds on this and continues improving.
“I hope so, because we’ve been playing up-and-down all season,” Stowers said. “Hopefully we can be back on track and playing at the top of our game when the postseason hits.”
Clarkrange will head to Harriman on Thursday, while Monterey will host York Institute.
