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Late set heroics lift NMCC over Cape Central
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- It took a little late-set magic to get things started, but the New Madrid County Lady Eagles moved over the .500 mark on the season Tuesday night with a sweep of the Cape Central Lady Tigers 25-23 and 25-21.
"I always feel like I'm telling the girls we need to be aggressive," NMCC head coach Diane Fowler said. "Because we're not real tall and we don't have huge blockers, we can't stop their offense if we don't hit ours first.
"We definitely have to play an offensive game and serve aggressively to try and keep the really good, tall hitters away from us a little bit. That's kind of our gameplan and tonight we didn't do to bad at it."
After surrendering several big rallies to Cape Central, defeat looked all but certain in the first set with the Lady Eagles trailing 23-15. Before the Lady Tigers could work their to set point, however, NMCC strung together a 6-0 run that included a couple block-for-points from Jessie Cowan to force a Lady Tiger timeout at 23-22.
An errant volley from Cape Central went on to tie the game before an unreturned serve from Caroline Fowler put the Lady Eagles at set point. With no room for error Cape Central saw a third volley hit the net on the next point to close out the set.
With their 25th and set-sealing point, NMCC capped an impressive run where they scored nine-straight to close out the game. They didn't take their first lead of night until set point at 24-23.
"I put Caroline Fowler back to serve and she got us right back in it," Diane Fowler said of 9-0 run. "We caught up in the game twice and then we let up. You can't play volleyball like that. It's such a momentum game."
In the second set it was Cape coming back from a five-point, mid-set deficit to take control of the game at 17-15. A missed Lady Tiger kill, followed by a Whitney Williams kill knotted the game back up to spark a 4-0 run by NMCC.
An ace from Lindsey Carlisle gave the Lady Eagles a 19-18 advantage they'd never relinquish.
With their team leading 23-21, Shanterra Waters and Carlisle knocked down back-to-back kills to end the match and send the Lady Eagles to 7-6 on the season.
As strong as her team's attack was late in each set, Diane Fowler credits her team's serving with playing a big role in the win.
"We have to take a risk with our serves and try to serve aggressive," Diane Fowler said. "Sometimes we miss a few, but (Caroline) did a good job of coming in there. Alexa Garner came in and served for us in the last set and won the end of the ball game for us.
"I was real pleased with some of my people that came off the bench to throw some different kinds of serves at them to see if those would fall."
For her team's part Cape Central head coach Angela Womack thinks her team's strong start may have led to their breakdown.
"I think they took the game for granted and New Madrid played well," Womack said. "They made us make the mistakes and we shut down."
Next up the Lady Eagles will participate in the Gideon Volleyball Tournament with pool play starting Thursday. NMCC's pool consists of Cooter, Richland and Charleston.