Milan volleyball opens season with win
MILAN – On the opening day of the season, no team is going to play to perfection. In fact, many teams will stumble at some point in this first week.
The Milan volleyball team had to face adversity, but the Lady Bulldogs overcame to open with a 2-1 victory over Liberty with a 25-16, 27-29, 25-23 victory at home on Monday.
“The No. 1 thing is that we didn’t pass it really well in that set,” Milan coach Todd Sheppard said. “You get complacent and start standing up, and we had five or six overpasses.
“Liberty has gotten better with their serve-receive, and they made us make the errors. I am proud of the way we came back in the third set.”
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The adversity came in the second set when the Lady Bulldogs led 23-18 on the way to sweeping the match, but Liberty scored six unanswered points to take a lead.
Milan couldn’t slow the Liberty attack down and get a much-needed sideout.
The Lady Bulldogs did tie the set three times and take a 27-26 lead, but the Lady Crusaders forced a third set.
Milan junior Kendall Westbrooks led the Lady Bulldogs’ attack with eight kills, while Julia McManus and Taylor Alexander added five kills each.
“It was more of a relief really to come away with a win to start the season,” Westbrooks said. “We lost some key players from last year.
“That second set showed us that you can’t get a big head. Anyone can come back on you at anytime. You have to learn how to play through it.”
Catherine Hughes finished with 18 assists.
Milan has many new players playing in new positions, so some early mistakes weren’t surprising.
“We have girls working in new postitions, so I think it is going to take some time,” Sheppard said. “We had to take our best passer out of the back row in Catherine Hughes, and move her to setter. Libero and setter are the two most important positions on our team.”
Keonna Ivy scored three straight service points in the third set to give the Lady Bulldogs a 20-15, and they held off a late Liberty push to pick up the victory.
Milan was close to a berth in the region tournament last year, but there are some unknowns on whether this team can play to that level this year.
“If we work hard, we can be as good as last year,” Westbrooks said. “We have to play like we know how and play together. It is going to take a whole team effort.”
Liberty made some mental mistakes that gave away points, but when the Lady Crusaders got into attack, they showed the potential to also get out of the District 15 A-AA tournament and into the region semifinals.
La’Curia Roberson led Liberty with five kills, while Tierra Chrystak and Ellie Ramirez added four kills each.
Michael Odom, 425-9754