The College Heights Cougars and the Sarcoxie Bears went five sets Thursday night and College Heights used a hot start in the fifth game to prevail 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 25-14, 18-25, 15-8) over their former Spring River Valley Conference rival at the ETG Sports & Events Center.
College Heights responded by winning the next two sets after Sarcoxie won the first set and then winning the match after the Bears forced a fifth set.
“I felt we had some really fun emergency plays tonight,” College Heights coach Mary Colin said. “The other team was tall and big and liked to stop it at the net, so it was fun for our team to respond, find the open floor, and move the ball around. I like the energy of our team. They’ll run to the wall to dig a ball, and that’s fun. At the end, when they were under pressure, I felt like they did some good things and even in the sets they lost, they battled.”
College Heights built a 12-3 lead in the fifth on the strength of the first three points and then a 5-0 run highlighted by back-to-back Addie Lawrence aces and a Libby Fanning kill.
“They were having too much fun before the fourth,” Coach Colin said. “They were being a little silly. It’s a double-edged sword, because I want them to be happy and have fun. They were having fun, but it can also get too loosey-goosey. They definitely sharpened up and came back for the fifth energetic in a positive way.”
The Cougars were led by Lawrence with 24 kills, six aces and 13 digs and Maddy Colin added 43 assists and 19 service points, Lauren Ukena 11 kills, five aces and 13 digs, and Ava Masena 20 digs.
College Heights faced and often succeeded in the challenge against Sarcoxie’s 6-foot-2 junior middle blocker Payton Ogle, as well as 6-0 freshman middle blocker Alexis Letts.
“I thought Maddy did a really good job of starting to work away from her (Ogle),” Coach Colin said. “It worked, and it opened up the net. It gave our hitters more options. The whole team has to work together to stay under control and get it over to Addie and pow!”
College Heights improved to 7-1-1 overall and the Cougars return to action Monday on the road against Marionville.
The Cougars won for the second time this week in their new gymnasium, after their win Tuesday against Pierce City.
“We love this gym. Isn’t this fun?” Coach Colin said. “Nothing hit the ceiling tonight. At the old gym, it would have hit the ceiling 17 times. Yeah, they can run balls down, it’s a super fun gym. It seems like the fans were having fun. They were spread out, and we had a good student crowd tonight. They’re probably getting hyped up for our first home football game (Friday).”
