Published: October 08, 2008 11:31 pm            

Disaster avoided

Lady Hornets hold off rally to tackle Lady Mustangs in five games

Everyone inside the Paul Bohan Hornet Gym thought Wednesday’s match would be a short one. Everybody believed it but the nine girls and two coaches from Magnolia West.

Huntsville cruised to an easy 25-11 win in game one Wednesday, then the Lady Hornets edged the Lady Mustangs 26-24 in the second set.

The dinner bell rang in Huntsville, but the Lady Hornets had to wait a bit before eating. Magnolia West rallied to win the next two games and force an all-or-nothing fifth set.

Huntsville turned the intensity back on in the final game and notched a 25-11, 26-24, 21-25, 23-25 and 15-6 victory over the pesky Lady Mustangs, who are competing on the varsity level for the first time this season.

The Lady Hornets improved to 5-3 in District 18-4A play and 20-13 on the season. Magnolia West dropped to 2-6 in district and 10-17 overall.

“This was a really important match for us, so we had to come through and fight there at the end,” Huntsville coach Brittany Brumbelow said. “We haven’t been in many five-game matches this year. I told the girls this match would show me what they’re made of.”

Brumbelow liked what she saw late in Wednesday’s match.

The Lady Hornets mixed in some solid hitting from Sara Vaughn, Hayley Tatom and Caitlin Germany with Liz Fry’s superb serving and Kaylynne Wright’s work at the net during the decisive game five. Huntsville quickly built a 9-3 lead and the Lady Mustangs never threatened.

Brumbelow was pleased after her players regrouped and took care of business. But she said the Lady Hornets should have never gotten themselves in that kind of predicament.

“We had plenty of chances to pull this match out a lot sooner,” the coach said. “We seem to have a problem of staying up for an entire game. I’m proud of the girls for coming back in that last game and fighting the way they did. But we missed a lot of serves tonight and made a lot of silly mistakes.”

Germany agreed with her coach’s assessment of Wednesday’s match. With a team that included two freshmen and five sophomores, Magnolia West played well. But the Lady Hornets had a chance to sweep this one and turn their attention to Friday’s home match with Waller.

“I think we all planned on getting out of here a little earlier. We got a little too confident after that first game and started thinking they can’t beat us,” said Germany, who fired down 15 kills.

Vaughn led the Lady Hornets with 20 spikes. Wright added seven kills and two blocks. Tatom had three kills, Fry contributed three aces and Jessica Beardsley had two aces. Junior setter Tayler Gray passed out 42 assists, while her Huntsville teammate Kayla Hayden had 15 digs.

“We can’t let Waller do this again Friday because they play really good defense just like Magnolia West does,” added Germany. “If we mess around again, they can beat us.”

Currently sitting in fourth place in the district standings, a loss to Magnolia West would have hurt Huntsville. A loss to Waller would do the same.

First serve Friday is set for 6 p.m. Huntsville plays at Magnolia West on Oct. 14, then the Lady Hornets visit Montgomery on Oct. 17.

        

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