Jeff Linville | The Mount Airy News
Mount Airy’s Katie Hicks gets a kill at the net against Bishop Thursday.
Jeff Linville | The Mount Airy News
The Bears’ Kathryn Beasley leaps high for a swing despite a bulky brace on her right knee. Setter Dana Brown (1) steps back to give her room.
The Lady Bears beat Bishop McGuinness in volleyball Thursday.
In their third match in as many days, the Bears still had enough in the tank to finish off another long, five-set match.
The meet on Tuesday went four sets, then Wednesday’s loss to Patrick County went five sets.
Still, Coach Kim Lyons liked the energy and positive body language her team showed against the Cougars.
“We carried over with that intensity and hustle,” said Lyons. “We showed effort and determination.”
There were some really long rallies at times in Thursday’s match, with both teams showing great defense, she said. The Bears were able to finish more of them than Bishop, which made a difference.
Mount Airy had to go past the typical 25 points in both of their set wins. The Bears won the first set 27-25 and the third 26-24.
Bishop won the second set 25-23 and the fourth 25-20.
Then in the deciding frame, the Bears won 15-10.
Bishop is a good defensive team, and hitters had to look for open spots on the floor, said the coach. Setter Dana Brown does a good job of watching the defense shifting, then she can push it to that spot.
Hitting with power gets fans excited, but it still counts as a point if they hit it soft, too, she noted.
Lyons said her squad did a good job of covering for each other as people moved to the ball.
There was really good action at the net, she said. Katie Hicks, Jasmine Varney, Taylor Dollyhigh and Abby Harold all played well there and also in dropping back from the net to cover the floor.
Junior Kathryn Beasley tied with Brown for the team high with 13 kills despite wearing a bulky knee brace.
Lyons said Beasley tweaked her knee last year, then bruised it diving for a ball last week. She seems fine, but three matches in three days is a lot of pounding, so the brace was cautionary, the coach explained.
Beasley also tied with Hicks for the team high in blocks with three. Hicks contributed 12 kills as well.
Tessa Rodgers had 18 assists and went 22-25 serving with four aces.
Brown had 12 assists and went 15-17 with three aces.
Charli Hiatt was 17-17 with two aces, and Varney was 15-16 with two aces.
Hiatt led the defense with 13 digs.
This was the first game of the second half of conference season, Lyons noted. Hopefully, a big win like this can carry over to next week.
Post a Comment
