Portageville Volleyball wins another conference battle

Friday, September 4, 2015
Amanda Moody hits the ball for a point in last Tuesday's game with Senath-Hornersville.

PORTAGEVILLE - Portageville and Senath-Hornersville are both known for having strong programs with experienced coaches. Tuesday's Bootheel Conference battle in Portageville proved as much, as both teams pushed each other to the limit across three sets. Ultimately, the Lady Bulldogs showed just enough firepower to get away with the win.

The Lady Bulldogs won the first set 25-17, but Senath-Hornersville bounced back to win a 31-29 thriller. Portageville opened the third set with a lead that the Lady Lions struggled to overcome despite some strong blocking up front. The Lady Bulldogs also struggled to keep their rivals at bay, but ultimately closed out a 25-20 win.

The Lady Bulldogs improved to 3-0 on the season while the Lady Lions dropped to 0-2.

Mallary Hoggard goes up for a defensive hit against Senath-Hornersville in last Tuesday's game.

Though Senath-Hornersville fought hard through each set, they opened each set by allowing Portageville to score several unanswered points. Lady Lions head coach Lori Hoffman says it's an old habit that's plagued her team in recent years.

"That's one habit we need to get out of," she said. "Being back and letting them get a lead on us and then we have to work our way back into the ballgame. It's been the last couple of years with that, and they've got to learn to start strong and end strong.

"That's some of things that we're going to work on in practice tomorrow, because we've had two games two nights in a row, and tomorrow we get to go back into the gym and work on what's going to make us a better team."

Meanwhile, Portageville head coach Barry Branscum left the game feeling positive after another hard fought win.

"It was a good night," Branscum said. "That was a tough conference game. It always is. Senath-Hornersville plays hard, they're well coached and it's a tough match every time we play them. It was a good win for us tonight...A real good win."

Both teams had their share of struggles throughout the match. Though Portageville opened each set with a lead, the Lady Lions kept finding ways back into the match. While the Lady Bulldogs managed to extend their lead late in the set, Senath-Hornersville kept fighting back.

For Portageville, the back and forth nature of play is at times a product of their aggressive style of play.

"It's our aggressiveness, and I coach them to be aggressive," he said. "I want them to be swinging at the ball. We want to pound the front row all night long, and sometimes we make mistakes doing that.

"I think more times than not, those aggressive swings at times are hurting us a bit. But that's alright. We're not going to change. That's who we are. That's what we practice and that's what we want to be."

Senath-Hornersville did well to fight off such a relentless attack. Maggie Crossno leapt up for consecutive blocks late in the third set to help her team stay alive before Portageville finally closed out the match.

"I think it was back and forth with them and us," Hoffman added. "We had some good blocking. They had some good blocking. We would have some good hits and throw their blockers off. It was really a battle at the net tonight."

The Lady Lions also did well at receiving good serves from the Lady Bulldogs, but they also fell apart in crucial moments. Hoffman looks to go back to work in Wednesday's practice with hopes of improving her team's consistency.

"Receiving a serve, and actually our serving," Hoffman said. "Those are two things that we have got to work on. They're two parts that we've got to get down before we can do anything else.

"We have some really strong parts of our rotation and we have some really weak parts. That's what we're going to work on. And if we have to bring up some JV to fill those weak spots, that's what we're going to do."

Senath-Hornersville returns to action with their first home game on Friday, Aug. 28, hosting Southland at 6 p.m. Portageville gets many days at practice ahead of the Bernie JV tournament in Aug. 27 and 28. Then, they'll travel to Malden on Monday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m.

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