Lady Dawgs Stumble Against Bearcats and Jaguars

The Lady Dawgs took to the court last Tuesday night for their first home game of the season with a large crowd cheering them on all the way.

     First up for the night were the Burlingame Lady Bearcats.  The girls were ready, but not focused enough to take down the well-prepared Bearcats as they fell quickly in two games with scores of 25-23 and 25-17.  Serving wasn’t quite as good as it has been with 90% making it into play.  Tera Titus and Shelby Buster knocked down 3 kills each of the team total of 11.  Molly Ballard made 6 of the 9 assists, Titus blocked 2 of the 16 team blocks, and Buster brought up 4 of the 10 defensive digs.

     Going into the next match against the Hartford Lady Jaguars, the Dawgs knew they had to clean up their act, but didn’t manage to pull up a win until the second game.  The ladies were pumped, but lost momentum and after the first two games of 25-17 and 25-20, they lost the third 25-15.  Buster led with 7 kills, followed by Titus with 5.  Ballard again led in assists with 8, Buster took hold of 3 solo blocks, and senior Misty Waggoner dug up 5 defensive digs.  Tera Titus and Molly Ballard were the players of the night.

     Thursday night the ladies took a trip up to Cottonwood Falls to play the Chase County Lady Bulldogs and the Osage City Lady Indians.  First on the schedule were the Lady Indians.  The Dawgs came in well-focused and ready to show their stuff.  They won the first game, 25-23, but slipped a little and lost the second and third games, 25-22 and 25-11.  Senior Bethany Whitehurst had 10 kills with Buster adding 7.  Ballard had 13 assists, Buster made 7 blocks, and Titus finished up with 5 blocks and 5 defensive digs.

     Disappointed from the loss, the Dawgs took out their frustration on the Chase County ladies, pounding them in two games with scores of 25-18 and 25-9.  Titus and Whitehurst had 4 kills each, Ballard played 9 assists, Buster contributed 3 solo blocks, and 4 defensive digs were brought up by Whitehurst.

     The Junior Varsity girls had a successful week, defeating the Burlingame JV 25-15 and 25-20 on Tuesday evening.  Serves were good with the ladies making 42 of the 47 serves over.  On Thursday, the JV Dawgs tripped up a little against Osage, losing 25-9 and 25-10, but this wasn’t going to stop them.  They put a beating on the Chase County ladies with scores of 25-10 and 25-6.  There were 3 kills in the game with sophomores Victoria Dean, Tina Ratcliff and Kelsie Bybee pulling down one each.

     The Dawgs play Tuesday night at home for Parents Night this week and Saturday in Burlington for the Burlington Invitational Tournament.  Thanks again to the community for making our home games such a huge success!