Lady Patriots snag two matches at home
Published 2:07 pm Thursday, September 18, 2008
The No.-5 ranked Lady Patriots of Pike Liberal Arts School snatched up two more wins Monday afternoon in Troy.
Pike hosted South Montgomery Christian Academy and played two best-of-three matches with the Lady Raiders, winning both in two games. The first was to the tune of 25-12, 25-16 and the second was 25-9, 25-10.
The Lady Patriots (5-2) may have won both matches, but head coach Mendy Avant said the squad still has some things to work on before getting back into region play Thursday.
“Our passes and sets were good, but our hits were just off today,” Avant said. “We were not aggressive out there and we seemed to be moving real slow.”
Pike and South Montgomery played two matches because the home date for the Lady Raiders back in August was postponed because of Tropical Storm Fay. Avant said there was also a last minute change to not play any JV matches today, so the varsity kicked things off with match one at 3:30 p.m.
And the Lady Raiders never let up their attack on Pike.
“They have a scrappy team and they were looking for the open spots and finding them occasionally,” Avant said. “A good defensive team would not let those fall and we need to become a good defensive team.”
The break in between region matches for the Lady Patriots was a welcome breather, according to Avant. The Lady Patriots face Crenshaw Christian today at 3 p.m. in Luverne. The JV squads square off first. Pike gets back into region play when they travel to Hooper Thursday.
“It is good to change it up every once in a while,” Avant said. “We just need to keep working hard and we will get after it at practice Wednesday and face Hooper Thursday. And at the same time we are ready to get back into region play.”
Junior Katie Wiggins led the Lady Patriots with four service aces and three kills on the afternoon. Juniors Genevieve Teel and Josie Griffin recorded three aces apiece. Griffin added five assists and Teel had four assists.
“Genevieve and Josie are always hustling all over the court,” Avant said. “Jamie Sanders also had some great passes and she played great defense for us.”
The Lady Patriots dropped a match Sept. 11 to the Morgan Academy Lady Senators, 3-0 (19-25, 15-25, 22-25). Their match with the Fort Dale Lady Eagles Sept. 9 was rescheduled for Sept. 25.
The two teams will play two best-of-five games matches when the Lady Eagles travel to Troy.