VB: Ladycats control net, Lady Riders, 3-0
Dodson (right) comes in to help during Tuesday's 3-0 Beckville win in Bearcat
Gymnasium. (Photo by John Krueger)
BECKVILLE, Tx -- The coaches from Center and Beckville were looking for their teams to polish up their play Tuesday night as the Ladycats took a break from District 20-1A action and the Lady Riders were making their final tune-up before District 18-3A play begins Saturday.
But neither saw what they wanted as Beckville used a home court advantage to knock off the Lady Riders, 25-16, 25-12, 25-16.
Center's solid service play was not enough to challenge Beckville in this interclassification matchup. The Class 3A Lady Riders were 42-of-46 (91.3%) on their serves, with no one player missing more than one. Chakera Ingram was successful on 11-of-12, while Cassie Bush and Sykera Berry were both 7-of-7 and Stephanie Rodriguez placed all six of her serves.
Bush recorded both service aces in the match.
But Class 1A Beckville kept Center away from a controlling match at the net as Center players finished the night with only two kills and one block.
"I thought we played well at times, but it still wasn't the kind of play I was hoping for," said Beckville head coach Casey Dennard. "We're just not as consistent as I'd like us to be. We seem to be up-and-down every match. We'll have one good game and then play not so well.
"We've got to get more consistency in our game if we want to be a good playoff team and I can't figure out what our problem is."
The win improved Beckville to 19-11 on the season as the Ladycats have now won three of their last four matches, including 2-of-3 in District 20-1A action.
Beckville will return to league play tonight when they take on Leverett's Chapel at home. There will be a varsity match only, beginning at 4:30 p.m. BHS then travels to Overton on Tuesday for another league matchup. The JV will start at 4:30 p.m., with the varsity to follow.
Center has been searching for consistency all season long and will head into District 18-3A play on Saturday with a 5-18-1 season mark and a four-match losing skid. The Lady Riders will travel to Jasper to take on the Lady Bulldogs, with freshmen getting underway at 12-noon. CHS will then be at Diboll Tuesday night.
Like Center, Beckville produced some high numbers at the service line as four Ladycats produced at least three aces. Emma Smith and Dalye Alfaro served up six service aces each, while Shelbi Jo Dodson added four and Taylor Lindsay finished with three.
Beckville also recorded 23 kills in the 3-game match. Lindsay and Ivy Rieke each chipped in six, while T'Ouja Adams added five, Cheyenne Haynes chipped in three and Dodson added two kills.
Rieke led the defensive charge with 13 digs for the Ladycats, with Dodson a distant second with seven, Alfaro adding six and Smith producing five.
Game One
The match started out even, with the scored tied at 4-4 early in the opening game. Lindsay then served five straight points, with a couple of kills by Rieke and Smith to boost the BHS lead to 10-5. The teams then traded points until Alfaro served five straight points - including three aces - to boost the Ladycat lead to 23-12. Beckville won the game, 25-16.
Game Two
Rieke helped the Ladycats out of the gate in the second game by serving the first six points, including an ace, with the help of a kill by Dodson.
After scoring nine of the first 10 points of the game, the teams traded points until Beckville went on an 8-1 run to end the game. Lindsay produced a kill and a block, Alfaro cashed in on an ace and Lindsay added an ace for the final point of the 25-12 final.
Game Three
Leading two games to none, Beckville scored the first five points of Game 3, with Haynes recording a kill. Alfaro and Lindsay each had aces as the Ladycats stretched the lead to 12-5.
Center put on a small run, with Bush recording an ace and Valtierra adding one of her own and the Lady Riders battled back to within 13-12.
But Dodson stepped to the service line and served three straight aces and the 'Cats went on a 12-4 run to end the game and the match.