-Photo by Jason Spencer
Mandi Mooney
Editor-in-Chief
October 21, 2005
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Sophomore Emily Rigney serves it up. -Photo by Jason Spencer |
After suffering a disheartening loss against
Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Brevard College (N.C.) last week, the Lady
Buffs came back to defeat UVA-Wise 3-1 on Tuesday night.
“Basically, the main thing was (the team) really
wanted to win this game,” said head coach Kim Hyatt.
UVA-Wise started off the match by capturing the
first point. Milligan quickly retaliated with a point of their own.
Nevertheless, just minutes into the game, UVA-Wise developed a lead that they
did not release for the remainder of the game, winning 30-18.
“I think they came out a little tense in the first
game, wanting to win too badly,” Hyatt said. “We finally settled down after the
first game and pulled together as a team and started running our plans as we
know how.”
The second game started out similar to the first
with the Lady Cavaliers gaining an early lead. Milligan caught up and gained its
first lead of the match at 10-9 and continued on to a six-point run.
“As long as we could keep the pace fast, we were
doing well,” Hyatt said. “When we slowed down, that's when it hurt us. I felt
like the pace got quicker the second game through.”
The Lady Buffs maintained that fast pace, winning
the game 30-21.
UVA-Wise again struggled to come back from behind during the third game. At one
point, they went on a five-point run, but that was not enough as Milligan
defeated the Lady Cavaliers 30-24.
In the fourth game, control of a lead went back
and forth between the teams with neither team gaining much ground until Wise
began to pull away, leading 22-17. However, as Milligan fought hard to win the
match and UVA-Wise struggled to keep the game going for one more set, the teams
battled neck and neck until Milligan overcame the Lady Cavaliers 32-30.
“In the last game (against UVA-Wise) our service
is what hurt us,” Hyatt said. “So our main thing that we’ve worked on tonight
was serving. Again I think there was too much tension on them to get the serves
in. But once they got the rhythm, they were okay.”
Junior Tara Earhart led the Lady Buffs with 15
kills and four aces. Sophomore Ashley Lokken added 10 kills and sophomore Jamie
Sly contributed 43 assists.
The Lady Buffs record for the season moves to 13-8
and 9-4 in the conference, putting them in third place in the conference
standings.
“We’ve got a tough schedule from here on out,”
Hyatt said. “We’ve got to stay focused on our side. That’s what we’re keen on is
focusing on our team and not necessarily focusing on the competition but what we
need to do on our side take care of business there first.”