Peebles’ Summer Bird, left, and Manchester’s Rylie Young, right, battle at the net in the third set of Tuesday’s conference match up at PHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles downs Manchester in straight sets
Peebles’ Angel Gray (12) goes up over Manchester’s Kameyl Carter for a kill attempt in the Lady Indians’ three-set win on September 20. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
With a tough road ahead, the first half of the 2022 season for Coach Annie Gustin and her Peebles Lady Indians varsity volleyball squad has been a successful one as the Peebles girls stood at 7-3 at press time, unbeaten in Southern Hills Athletic Conference with a 5-0 record and a four game cushion in the small school division.
On Tuesday, September 20, the Lady Indians played host to the Manchester Lady Greyhounds in SHAC action, the first of two conference meetings this season. After Peebles swept the JV match (25-12, 25-15), the varsity squads took the court and the Lady Indians took control from the beginning, using some strong serving by libero Ellie Stephens to roll to a first set win by a score of 25-13,
The theme of the match was the inability of the Lady Hounds to handle the Peebles serve and that continued in the second set, though it was a much better effort by the visitors to keep it close. The Indians stayed on top through the second set and capped it off with a Kennedy Dick kill for the final point in a 25-19 win.
The third set was another tight back and forth affair, and it looked like the Lady Hounds were prepared to force a fourth set as they led 24-21, just a single point away from taking the set. But the Lady Indians had other ideas, sending Darby Mills back to the service line where she proceeded to serve five consecutive winner, the final point coming on a Summer Bird kill as the home team took the third set 26-24 and swept the match in three, extending their winning streak to five matches.
“I think our girls relaxed a little since they had won those first two sets,” said Coach Gustin. “I told them to work on some things and I think they just relaxed and lost a little focus. We’ve had a good year so far, our only three losses came in the first week of the season, two of those in a Saturday tri-match. We’re getting better each night.”
The Lady Indians’ season will face a serious challenge in the upcoming wee, when they have some tough matches scheduled. Two of those will loom large in conference results as they face the two top teams in the SHAC big school division, a home game with the Fairfield Lady Lions on September 27 and a road trip to North Adams two nights later. The Peebles squad also has a non-conference battle at home with Paint Valley on Monday, September 26.
The loss dropped the Lady Hounds to 4-9 on the season.
