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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Eagles' late-game plays get win over Rangerettes
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
In a game where both teams got to a lot of balls that appeared headed
for the floor, the Pecos Eagles ended up defeating the Greenwood
Rangerettes by getting to two that appeared headed that way, while the
Rangerettes' defense let three straight free balls fall to the court.
Greenwood's Veronica Carruth simply guessed wrong on the first one,
thinking that a high hit to the back line by Danielle Garcia would fall
out of bounds, giving the Rangerettes the deciding fifth game of the
match against the Eagles. But the ball fell in, cutting Greenwood's
lead to 14-13, and then Stephanie Herrera and Garcia were able to dive
for balls hit by the Rangerettes and send them back over the net, where
both times they fell between a trio of Greenwood players.
That put the Eagles ahead 15-14, and when Carruth's back line hit
then sailed past Pecos' back line, the Eagles clinched a 25-19, 21-25,
25-21, 14-25, 16-14 homecourt victory, and took over sole possession of
second place in the District 4-3A standings.
"I guess they were caught off-guard," said Eagles' coach Becky
Granado. "I don't think they expected us to get the ball back over the
net."
The first one came after a Jaymie Flowers spike, while the second
was off a hit by Kim Smith. "I think what happened was their setter in
the middle was a back line player, and she couldn't jump up and hit it,
and no one else came over," Granado said.
Pecos' late rally came after the teams had swapped wins in the first
four games. The Eagles were in control most of the way in Game 1, then
grabbed a 9-4 lead in Game 2, before the Rangerettes came back for the
victory. In Game 3, Pecos led by as many as nine points, at 22-13,
before Greenwood got to within 24-21 at the finish. The Eagles finally
won on a Garcia spike, but the Rangerettes used their late rally to
dominate Game 4, as Pecos appeared to tire out in that game.
"That's what it looked like. They looked like they were tired and
lost their concentration," Granado said. "They were really into it (in
Game 3), and then in the fourth game they just came out flat."
Pecos took control in the opening game after Leslie Rodriguez
rotated to the front line. The senior had six kills in the game, while
Herrera came up with a couple of kills after Greenwood cut a 17-11 lead
to 17-14.
"I don't think they expected us to have strong hitters. I think they
were surprised with our offense," Granado said.
In Game 2, the Eagles led 9-5 following a spike by Herrera when
Greenwood rallied behind hitters Weslee Wroe and Smith to grab a 10-9
lead. The Eagles would regain the lead a couple of times, before the
Rangerettes went ahead for good, 18-17, on a Wroe kill, eventually
winning on a spike by Landry Johanssen.
Pecos never trailed in the third game, breaking a 1-1 tie on a spike
by Herrera and later going on a 7-1 run that turned a 14-11 lead into a
21-12 advantage. The Eagles took advantage of several unforced errors
in that streak, but the Rangerettes' rally would use mistakes by Pecos,
which continued on into Game 4. The Eagles also had problems getting up
at the net to handle spikes by Johanssen and Flowers in that game, and
twice saw the Rangerettes get to balls that appeared headed for the
floor and return them for points.
Granado shifted her line-up in Game 5, starting Rodriguez on the
front line instead of at the server's position. "I felt like she could
put some balls down and give us some spark, and I wanted Danielle to
start off serving, though I don't think she was serving like she
normally does," she said.
The lead would change hands seven times in Game 5. Pecos would hold
a 10-8 lead off bad hits by Flowers and Smith, but then gave up four
straight points to Greenwood for a 12-10 Rangerette lead. Two hits for
points by Garcia around her spike out of bounds made it 13-11, and
Greenwood then got to match point on a spike by Jordan Dominguez that
was blocked out of bounds by Rodriguez, setting up the final four point
Pecos rally.
The win improved Pecos' record to 4-1 at the midpoint of the
District 4-3A schedule and 12-14 overall, while Greenwood fell to 3-2
and 14-19 going into their home game on Saturday against first place
Monahans. The Eagles open the second half of their district schedule on
Saturday, with a trip to Kermit.
Pecos' junior varsity also won a split set match over Greenwood, by
19-25, 25-22, 25-19 scores, while the freshman Eagles lost to the
Rangerettes, 25-13, 25-21.
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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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