Lady Dawgs Take To The Road

 Last Saturday, the Lady Dawgs took a trip to Burlington for their annual invitational tournament.  First up in their pool play was a league opponent, the Waverly Lady Bulldogs.  The girls started out a little tired with an 8:30 am game time, and lost their first game, 25-12.  Not to be discouraged this early in the day, they turned around and beat them in a close game of 25-20, but weren’t able to hold them and fell 25-19 in the last game.  Shelby Buster held 5 solo blocks and brought down 7 kills.  Bethany Whitehurst and Morgan Stout had good games with 12 defensive digs each, and Molly Ballard rounded them out with 15 assists.

     The ladies were still a little down heading into the next match and lost the first game against the St. Paul Lady Indians, 25-21.  But after a little pep talk, they turned around and beat them 25-13 and 25-20 to take the match.

     Excited from their victory, the Dawgs entered the next game ready to play and showed it by spanking the Burlington Lady Bearcats 25-15 twice in a row to take them in two games, sending Madison on to the next round.  Bringing down 5 kills was Stout, who also had 4 solo blocks.  Ballard held 13 assists, and team captain Abby Kile had 15 good passes resulting from opposing team serves.

     The ladies were definitely ready as they entered bracket play, and who should be their opponent than the ever-present rival team, the Lebo Lady Wolves.  The Dawgs were incredibly pumped and laid it on an unprepared Lebo team as they won the first game, 25-21.  In the second game, Madison led most of the way as Lebo let down their guard, but at the last minute the Wolves seemed to elude a loss by winning 25-23.  Going into the last game, our Dawgs lost much momentum and took a hard hit, losing to Lebo for the fourth time this year, 25-13.

     After such a heart wrenching loss, the ladies had to turn around and battle it out for 3rd place against the Southern Coffey County Lady Titans.  The SCC Titans came into the game well prepared and hailed in on the tired Bulldog team, beating them in two games with identical scores of 25-14.  Madison ended the tournament at 4th place out of eight teams.  

     Earlier in the week the Lady Dawgs played their last home game against the Lyndon Lady Tigers and the Lebo Lady Wolves.  They began the night with the undefeated Lady Tigers.  Lyndon was a very good team and our Dawgs just weren’t prepared, falling in two games with identical scores of 25-15 for both.  Madison had an excellent night of serves with 100% making it over and into play against the Tigers.  The ladies managed to bring down 9 kills with 3 from Buster and 3 from Stout.  Ballard held 4 of the 7 assists and Buster, Stout, and Jean Bond had 5 shared blocks each.  Tera Titus had 5 defensive digs.

     The Dawgs knew they had to pick it up if they were to take on their next adversary, the Lady Wolves.  Although the ladies had played Lebo several times this year, they were still unable to come out with a win, losing both games 25-22.  Titus came out on top with 6 kills, followed by Buster and Whitehurst with 3 each.  Kile held 8 of the 13 assists, while Buster and Titus had 6 shared blocks each.  Buster and senior Misty Waggoner had 4 defensive digs each.