Manchester senior Jacey Farley makes a return in the Lady Hounds’ win over Whiteoak on October 10. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester ‘s Abby Lucas lines up a serve attempt in the Lady Hounds’ straight set win over Whiteoak that improved their record to 9-11 on the season. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After struggling to a 2-10 start against a very challenging schedule, Coach Aaliyah Smith and her Manchester lady greyhounds varsity volleyball squad completed a remarkable turnaround last week when they knocked off the visiting Whiteoak Lady Wildcats in straight sets, making it seven wins in their final eight regular season matches and completing that regular season with an overall mark of 9-11. The Lady Hounds also crept up to finish in third place in the small school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference with a final conference record of 5-8.
“We have had a bunch of injuries and illnesses this season which made is really inconsistent,” said Coach Smith after the Whiteoak win. “Finally, we got our whole team back, got a couple of wins to build some confidence and from there things just kept improving. We’ve just tried to keep improving and building the program back up. We’ve adjusted to things pretty well and I’m proud of these girls.”
In the Whiteoak match last Thursday which happened to be Volley For The Cure Night plus Senior Night, the Lady Hounds took the JV match in two sets, then jumped to a quick 10-5 lead in the first varsity set behind the serving prowess of Bristynn McClanahan. The home team extended that advantage with four service points from Abby Lucas to move in front 15-6.
The Lady Hounds never gave up that big advantage and went up 23-12 with Kennedi Turner on the service line, then sewed up the first set on a service ace by senior Jacey Farley, taking the set easily 25-13.
The second set scoreboard went back and forth early until the Lady Hounds sent Farley behind the service line again, which resulted in six consecutive points (including two aces) and a 16-8 Manchester lead. This time, however, the Lady Cats made things a lot more interesting, reeling off nine straight on the serves of senior Maddison Schumm to deadlock the set at 22 apiece. A kill by Abby Neria gave the lead back to the Lady Hounds and a pair of aces from McClanahan wrapped up a 25-22 second set triumph for the home side.
In the decisive third set, the score remained close and the Lady Cats taking a 13-11 lead with a string of 9 of 11 points, again with Schumm serving. The Lady Hounds rallied with a Rylie Young kill that tied the score at 15 and when senior Madison Dunn went back to serve, she rattled off five in a row to give the Lady Hounds a 21-17 lead, one they never relinquished. Leading 24-21 it was fitting that a senior garner the final point of the match and it was a Farley serve that did the trick as the home team celebrated Senior Night with a 25-21 third set win and a sweep of the match.
Senior Rylie Young led the Manchester offense with 1o with classmates Madison Dunn and Jacey Farley adding 7 and 5 respectively. Junior setter Abby Lucas passed off 21 assists, while Young led the Lady Hounds doing the dirty work with 25 digs, followed by Farley with 21 and Dunn with 20.
The Lady Hounds opened Division VII district play on Tuesday, October 15, hosting the New Boston Lady Tigers. No score was available for that match at press time.
