KFDM COOP Posted October 28, 2007 Report Posted October 28, 2007 Lady Bears take down New Caney in bidistrictVan WadeThe Orange LeaderMONT BELVIEU — After shaking off some first-game jitters, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears proved who had the better team in their Class 4A Region III bid strict playoff battle against the New Caney Lady Eagles at Barbers Hill Gym. After dropping a two-point decision in Game One, the Lady Bears found their old aggressive ways to overpower the Lady Eagles 23-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-18. The win pushed the Lady Bears (21-15) to the area round of the playoffs Tuesday night where they will face highly-touted Friendswood. Long-time Lady Bear head coach Vicki Castino won the coin-flip against the Friendswood coach as the match will be played Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Lamar University's McDonald Gym. Without a doubt, it was a total team effort for the Lady Bears against a "game" group of Lady Eagles (19-17). Senior Morgan Blohm and sophomore Christine Sicktich led the LC-M power game once again but received plenty of help from their teammates. Blohm and Sicktich both collected 17 kills apiece as New Caney had no response to Sicktich's power slams and Blohm received nice short sets that she ripped all through the Lady Eagles' backcourt. Senior Kristi Trahan had a terrific playoff performance, slicing nine kills at the Lady Eagles. Fellow senior Jordyn Davis had six kills while Maci Wilcox had five kills. "The kids really came on strong when they had to," said Castino. "They were a little uptight in that first game because you could see their lips quivering at times. I told them to just go out and play their game and then they started to get after it. New Caney has a good team. They were a great challenge." Blohm also had a nice service game working, putting up 16 points. Shayna Sheppard brought a mean serve as well and really gave the Lady Bears a lift in Game Four. Sheppard finished with 11 points and two aces. Brittany Wiegand added eight points and two aces while Sicktich had seven points and two aces and Carly Gauthier contributed five points and an ace. The LC-M win offset a tremendous performance by New Caney hitter Keia Strother, who muscled her way to 15 kills, seven points and two aces. Jessica Clayburg contributed eight kills, 11 points an ace for the Lady Eagles attack. LaRyssa Wise also had eight kills and Roberta Cortopassi added five kills and five points. "That No. 11 (Strother) is an excellent player," Castino said. "I thought we had several more hitters going in and it showed in those last three games. Christine, Morgan, they were awesome. Trahan had a huge match. I thought we set the ball well most of the way and the kids were able to strike the ball well." New Caney stayed barely in command throughout Game One. However, a Wiegand ace drew the Lady Bears to within 24-23 before a Cortopassi smash sealed the game for the Lady Eagles. The Lady Bears had complete control of Game Two from the get-go, scoring the first four points. Blohm served up six straight points during a stretch that gave LC-M an 11-3 advantage and the Lady Bears went on to cruise to the win. LC-M looked like it was going to dominate in Game Three, streaking out to a 9-2 cushion. The Lady Eagles, behind Strother, kept whittling away at the lead and were able to tie it up at 17-17 and 22-22. However, the Lady Bears received a kill apiece from Blohm and Sicktich to tally three of the final four points to take the game by two. The Lady Bears darted out to a 10-4 lead in Game Four as it seemed as if they were going to run away with it. The Lady Eagles proved they had plenty of fight left by tallying 11 of the next 13 points to go up 15-12. LC-M quickly settled down though. Sheppard had a "mean" service game working as she ripped off six straight points, including two aces while Blohm put away two kills that put the Lady Bears back on top 19-15. "Everything came together for us after being really nervous at the start," Sheppard said. "I was just glad to help out the team there at the end. New Caney is a tough team but after we settled down, I think we all kinda realized that we were the better team." The Lady Eagles seemed to wilt under the pressure at that point with the Lady Bears closing out the match by ripping off six of the final nine points.
FriendswoodFan Posted October 29, 2007 Report Posted October 29, 2007 Watch out Golden Triangle Fans. Here come the Lady Mustangs!!! Come out and watch some real volleyball!
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