The Center 8th grade volleyball team recently participated in a tournament at Panola College on Sept 5, finishing third in its pool, posting a 5-5 record, according to Head Coach Beth Nichols.
Center defeated Mike Moses of the Nacogdoches ISD and then lost to Forest Park of Longview. Center then split matches with Longview's Judson squad, and also the team from Tatum. The Lady Riders lost twice to Carthage, but took the Lady Bulldogs down to the wire in the second match, falling by just two points.
"The girls really did well," Nichols stated. "We were working on some things that will help us perform better as we continue playing district games."
Center will be at home tonight (Monday), taking on Carthage. The 7th grade C-team will start things off at 4:30 p.m., following by the 7th-B, 8th-B, 7th-A and 8th-A. All games will be played at the Center MS Gymnasium.
EARLIER SEASON ACTION
Center opened the year against Rusk on Sept. 3. Here are results from those games:
Center (7th-C) 24, Rusk 19 -- The schools played a time-limit 7th grade C game, with Center coming out on top, 24-19.
Center (7th-B) 1, Rusk 1 -- Nichols stated that her Lady Rider 7th-B played well, splitting games with Rusk. Center won the opener, 25-19, but Rusk came back to narrowly take the second game, 19-17, as the running clock ran out. "The team played very well for it being the first game in their lives," Nichols stated.
Rusk (7th-A) 2, Center 1 -- Rusk captured the first game, 25-14, but Center bounced back to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-14 victory. Rusk won the tie-breaker, 15-3. "The team played very well for their first game in their lives," Nichols said. "They moved well as a team and there is definitely a lot of potential there. I'm very excited about how they played."
Rusk (8th-B) 2, Center 0 -- Rusk swept the match from the Center 8th grade B team, but not without the Lady Riders coming back to make it a close contest. After the Lady Eagles won 24-12 in the opener, Center narrowly went down to defeat 22-20 in the second game. "We got off to a slow start," Nichols admitted. "We're still trying to work out some things. But there is a lot of potential there; we just have to reach for it."
Rusk (8th-A) 2, Center 0 -- Center's 8th grade A team struggled with its serves and dropped match to Rusk. Rusk took the first game, 25-14, and narrowly escaped with the second contest, 25-22. "We did not play our best game ever," Nichols commented. "We struggled in our serving, which gave points away. We are usually strong servers.
"We are still trying to work out the kinks of this advanced offense that we've started this year. We did start to do a better job in the second game. There is definitely a lot of talent and potential. I think we do get it, and put it all together, we will be a lot more competitive."