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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, November 5, 2002
Eagles seek different result in familiar surroundings
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The surroundings should look a little familiar to the Pecos Eagles
tonight, when they face the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes in the bi-district
round of the Class 3A volleyball playoffs, which may be good news.
But the opponent will also be a little familiar to Pecos, which based on
the Eagles' regular season results in the 2002 season is bad news.
The Eagles face the Tornadoes in the playoffs for the fourth time ever
and the first time since 1996 tonight, with Pecos coming in with a 14-15
season record after their win over Fort Davis in a practice game this past
Saturday, while Lamesa is 25-7 after defeating Seminole in a District 3-3A
second place playoff match on Saturday.
Tonight's match will be played at Odessa Ector Junior High School, on
Clemens Street on the south side of Odessa. The colors inside may be a little
different, but the building itself is the sister structure to the Pecos High
School gym, having been completed from the same blueprint in 1982, about
a year before the Eagles' gym was finished.
However, whether at home or on the road this season, the Eagles have been
consistent at repeating earlier results against teams. The Eagles defeated
district rivals Fort Stockton all four times they met, and Kermit and Presidio
three times, while winning twice against Fort Davis and Van Horn. But on
the other side, the Eagles lost three times to Monahans, twice to Midland
Greenwood and twice to Alpine and Odessa High.
Given those results, and a 15-6, 15-12 pool round loss at the Seminole
Tournament against Lamesa on Sept. 6, the odds are against the Eagles tonight.
But coach Becky Granado is hoping her team can show some more confidence
in themselves tonight when they face the Tors for the second time this season.
"I was talking to them a while ago and told them they need to believe
in themselves," Granado said. "I said `You need to do something good for
yourself' and `Don't be afraid to believe in yourself'."
"It all boils down to us not being nervous. I need for all of them to
be aggressive and don't hold back," Granado said.
The Eagles changed up their back line defense prior to Saturday's match
against Fort Davis, and will stay with that change tonight. Pecos will also
have to go without senior Vanessa Garcia, who sprained her ankle last week.
"All she's going to do is serve," Granado said. "She wants to play, but
she can't move laterally, so Erica (Franco) will come in and play back line."
Up front, the Eagles do get back junior Leslie Rodriguez, who missed Saturday's
match to compete in the Region I-3A cross-country meet. Granado is hoping
she and the Eagles' other front line players can do better the second time
around against Lamesa than they did two months ago.
"They're similar to Greenwood. Their strongest hitter is No. 24 (Llana
Castro). She hits from the strong side, so that's where we'll set up out
big blocks," Granado said. "Their offense isn't as quick as Monahans; their
sets are very high, so hopefully that will be to our advantage, and we'll
be able to get our blockers over there. But the kids on the back line will
have to keep their feet moving."
Ashley Hunter and Brittany Roberts were the Tors' other main hitters this
season, while Chelsea Reeves and Julie Meador are Lamesa's other front line
players. The Tors ended up with a 10-3 record in district play to finish
behind 12-0 Denver City, while Pecos was 6-4 in district, losing to Monahans
and Greenwood, which faces Seminole at Andrews tonight in their bi-district
playoff match.
The drop from Class 4A to 3A by Pecos this year will have an effect on
the Eagles' playoff status if they get past tonight's match. Unlike 4A, not
all schools in 3A play volleyball and as a result, the winner of tonight's
match will draw an area round bye this coming weekend, and will await the
winner of Saturday's Monahans-Perryton match. That regional quarterfinal
match would be scheduled for next week at a site and time to be determined.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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