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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
Tors' hitters prove too much for Eagles
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles volleyball team played better than last season in the
playoffs, and better than in their playoff for second place in the
District 4-3A standings last Saturday night. But they still didn't play
well enough to avoid elimination for the second year in a row at the
hands of the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes.
The Eagles, who were wiped out by Lamesa a year ago in just over 30
minutes in the Class 3A playoffs, did better on Tuesday at the Odessa
Ector Junior High gym. But they still couldn't generate enough offense
to overcome Lamesa's height advantage, and were eliminated from the
playoffs by 25-14, 25-16, 25-12 scores.
"Some of us have been on and some have been off the last couple of
games. We haven't had everybody on the way we needed to, and it was a
tough match," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado. "We had a tough time
passing the ball, and we got caught out of position on defense.
"I really thought we were going to play them tougher," she added.
"Leslie was into it. She was hitting the ball well, but we needed
everybody in there."
Pecos started the match the same way they finished last year's loss
to the Tors, mishandling several serves that helped Lamesa jump out to
a 6-4 lead. But when Rodriguez rotated to the front line, she put down
four kills as part of a 7-2 run that gave the Eagles a 9-8 lead.
However, once Rodriguez went to the back line, Pecos' offense
stalled, while the Tors' 5-foot-11 hitter Christy Reeves took advantage
of the Eagles' short front line. Reeves had four hits for points and
one block on Danielle Garcia to close out the match, as Lamesa finished
the opening game with a 14-3 run after a spike by Jill Nix put the Tors
ahead to stay at 12-11.
In Game 2, the Eagles got some early kills from Stephanie Herrera
and the teams were tied 6-6 when Lamesa's Ashley Hunter came up with a
pair of kills and an ace serve during a 14-5 run by the Tors.
A spike by Herrera and a couple of tip shots by her and Garcia
helped the Eagles go out to a 4-0 lead in Game 3. Reeves got Lamesa on
the board with a spike and Hunter followed with three kills to tie the
score. It was 6-6 when Jade Beaty came up with a spike and the Tors'
other big middle blocker, Julee Meador, knocked back a Rodriguez spike
for a point to sent Lamesa on a 7-1 run that put them ahead by a 13-6
score.
Rodriguez would have a couple of kills after that, helping Pecos get
to within 14-10, but again when she moved to the back line, Reeves and
Hunter took over for Lamesa, combining for four kills during the
closing 11-2 run by Lamesa that finished off the match.
"I thought the last two ballgames we really have stepped it up and
hit the ball hard, and that's the key in the playoffs," said Lamesa
coach Patty Browning, whose team improved to 27-10 on the season and
will await the winner of Saturday's area round match between Dalhart
and Monahans in the Region I-3A quarterfinals.
"We'll have to play very, very well to play with Monahans," said
Browning, whose team was ousted by the Loboes in last year's playoffs
and is expecting to face the District 4-3A champs again next Tuesday in
Odessa. "We'll have to play at a very high level and have a very
balanced attack to stay with them."
The Eagles, meanwhile, close out their season with a 15-18 record,
and will graduate six seniors, including all of their hitters except
for Garcia.
"We're going to have to work on our setters, passing and hitting,"
said Granado. "I just finished telling them they're going to have to go
through that weight training program, but I don't know if enough of
them will be dedicated enough to do it every day. If they want to get
out here and perform in a game they have to be ready to work for it
during the off-season."
Greenwood, which defeated Pecos in three games on Saturday in the
playoff for third place, fared only slightly better than the Eagles in
their bi-district match on Tuesday. The Rangerettes saw their season
come to an end in four games against Seminole, in their bi-district
match at Lamesa, falling to the Maidens by 25-21, 26-24, 24-26, 25-22
scores.
Pecos girls 2nd in Abilene Division II golf
The Pecos Eagles' girls golf team finished second in their division
on Oct. 25, at the Abilene Invitational Tournament, while Pecos' boys
golf team will be playing their final fall tournament match at Fort
Bliss in El Paso.
The girls shot a 370-371-741 to place second, behind the host
Abilene High Eagles, in Division II at the tournament, which featured
18 teams from West Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Meanwhile,
golfers Shelly Martinez and Sarah McKinney finished second and third in
the medallist race among Division II golfers.
Pecos ended up in Division II by not finishing among the Top 8 on
Friday in open play among all 18 teams. "I only took four girls, and
they did a good job, but when you only bring four it hurts, because
you're not able to drop a score if one of the girls has a bad round,"
said Eagles' coach Tina Doan.
Along with Martinez and McKinney, Doan said she took Bianca Mendoza
and freshman Eleanor Mason to the Abilene Tournament. "She (Mason) did
real well. It was a good experience for her," Doan said.
The Abilene Tournament was the only one on the fall schedule for
this year for Pecos' girls, who finished second to Snyder last spring
at the Class 3A state tournament in Austin. Snyder also was in the
Abilene Tournament and placed fifth in Division I, with a 707 score,
while one other Class 3A team, Sweetwater, placed ahead of the Eagles,
shooting a 723 to finish sixth in Division I.
Abilene High won the Division II title with a 738 score, while San
Angelo Central won the Division I title with a 675, one shot ahead of
Andrews.
Pecos' boys have one more fall tournament on their schedule, this
month at Fort Bliss in El Paso. Pecos placed fifth in their opening
tournament, at Lubbock in late September.
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
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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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