Straughn victorious over Opp
Published 11:56 pm Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Straughn Lady Tigers (3-5) won Tuesday night against the Opp Lady Bobcats 25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 25-22, to clinch the match in the fourth game.
The Lady Tigers had home court advantage and got out to a two-game lead over the Lady Bobcats.
It was not until the third game when Opp came back to win by four points that the Lady Tigers put together an offense and defense in the fourth game to win the match.
Lady Tigers head coach Lori Kinsaul said the win was “needed” for the team after the results from the Andalusia Invitational last Saturday.
“We needed the win because we didn’t come out with a win on Saturday,” Kinsaul said. “We played well and we hadn’t won all three matches Saturday. The girls played hard and I was really proud of them. Tonight, we needed that win, it was a confidence builder.”
At times in the fourth game, the Lady Tigers were down a few points due to the Lady Bobcats’ strong offensive play.
Kinsaul said one of the reasons the team could not hold the lead was due to not swinging at the ball.
“I just keep getting frustrated with them because they keep dinking,” Kinsaul said. “I want them to swing because that is the main thing I’m trying to get them focused on. You need to swing first and then you can dink later because if they know you’re going to swing then that’s when the dink is affective.
“Or, if they know that you’re going to keep tipping the ball, they’re never going to be expecting it.”
Kinsaul added the team would be not only working on their swinging, but their rotation on the court.
“I’m trying to get them to swing and we got a lot of things we need to work out in our rotation,” she said. “Serve-receive is giving us some trouble, so [Wednesday] we’re going to try and work all that out.”
Lady Bobcats head coach Christie Spurlin said the loss was due to a lack of teamwork.
“We need more teamwork,” Spurlin said. “We didn’t work as a team today. We’ve just got to learn to play together. All in all they hustled, but we’ve got to have more teamwork.”
Spurlin added that at practice, passing and setting the ball are two areas the team will be working to improve.
Straughn will travel to Pleasant Home to play the Lady Eagles on Thursday night. The games start at 4 p.m. with junior varsity with varsity following the JV game.
Opp will be hosting Kinston and Samson on Thursday. Varsity is the only team playing and the games start at 4 p.m.