CHS unable to recover after slow start

Percentages show that a bad start usually produces an unfavorable ending.

Those percentages held true Thursday night at College Heights as the Carthage Lady Tigers volleyball team could not overcome a slow and disastrous beginning eventually falling to the Lady Cougars 13-25, 21-25.

The loss puts the Lady Tigers at 1-1 on the young season and will next play Tuesday night in their home opener against Carl Junction.

After tying the score in the first game at 2-2, the Lady Tigers quickly fell behind 2-6 and could not get back the momentum of the game.

Most of the Carthage points came on errors by College Heights, instead of kills by the Lady Tigers. Defensive net play was virtually non-existent as the Lady Tigers had just one block in the entire first game.

At one point, the Lady Cougars reeled off eight consecutive points to lead 16-5 — taking Carthage out of the game.

“This happened to us the last game as well,” said Carthage Coach Butch Loveall. “We just came out very slow and very timid. We had very little digs in the first game because we just couldn’t see where the tips were going.”

Although Carthage lost the second game as well, the Lady Tigers improved their level of play, making College Heights work harder for the victory.

Carthage tied the game at 7-7, but then got down 21-13. The Lady Tigers staged a minor rally to pull within three at 24-21. But a massive kill by College Heights’ Kelsi Bodine put the game away.

“But we played much better in the second game,” said Loveall. “We began to play better at the net and got a lot more blocks. We were seeing the ball a lot better.”

Carthage was led by senior middle hitter (Aleisha) “AJ”  Joyce. She ended the night with four digs, one kill, four blocks and three service points.

Other Carthage leaders were:
• Lindsey Terry – one dig, one kill and two service points;
• Alex Giett – one dig, four kills and five service points;
• Kayla Tarwater – four kills;
• Devon Priester – one kill and two blocks;
• Calee Houlihan – one kill and five service points;
• Kori Gregory – three digs;
• Brooke Huffman – 1 dig;
• Taylor Smith – two kills and three blocks.

The game was a reunion of sorts as several College Heights players are from Carthage and the coach – Carla Gaines – also is from Carthage.