Pulaski falls to Lady Lakers, 2-0

By STEVE CORNELIUS, CJ Sports Editor
Commonwealth Journal

Somerset October 08, 2008 05:10 pm

— Losing close games in the late stages has been an ‘all too familiar’ quandary for the Lady Maroon volleyball team this past season as Pulaski fell to Russell County 2-0 (25-23, 25-23) on Tuesday night.
Despite being swept in two games, the outcome could have just have easily been a two-game sweep in favor of the Lady Maroons.
In game one, Pulaski zipped out to a 7-2 lead and led 23-22 in the closing stages. In the second game, Pulaski scored five straight points to overcome a six-point deficit to bring the score to 23-22.
But in both games, Pulaski could not score when they needed it the most.
“We dug ourselves too big of a hole,” Pulaski coach Teresa Combs said. “We changed our line-up in the first game and I am not sure we got to where we fully needed to be.”
“We are going to have to step into situations where we are uncomfortable and serve tough,” Combs continued. “Now, I thought we served tough towards the end of the second set, but we need to be more aggressive in that first set. If we were aggressive at the start, we could have set the tone of the game a little bit more.”
Kills by Tori Carter and Ashlie Dye, grouped with five consecutive Russell County attack and passing errors led to Pulaski’s 7-2 early lead in game one. However, the Lady Lakers scored the next four points to pull within one.
Down 22-20, Pulaski capitalized on a Lady Laker error, Heather Ping scored on a serving ace and Dye made an off-balanced kill off a bad set to give the Lady Maroons a 23-22 lead.
But back-to-back blocks by Lady Laker Kelsey Redmon and a Pulaski attack error provided Russell County’s 25-23 game-one win.
Game two had four lead-changes, of margins of two points or less, before the Lady Lakers opened their largest lead of 19-15.
A kill by Pulaski’s Dye and a Lady Laker error closed the Russell County lead to 19-17.
Then, three Pulaski unforced errors allowed Russell County to go up by a seemingly unsurmountable 23-17 count.
Like always, Pulaski made a game-saving charge at the end of the match.
A Brooke Cable kill, three consecutive serving aces by Heather Ping and a Lady Laker attack error pulled the Lady Maroons within one-point at 23-22.
Russell County took the contest to match-point off a Pulaski return error, but allowed Pulaski to stay alive with a serving error on the pursuing point.
However, Pulaski returned the favor with a serving error of their own in a 25-23 Lady Laker game-two win.
Pulaski fans sent off seniors Brittany Alexander and Heather Ping during Senior Night ceremonies prior to the match.
“Brittany Alexander and Heather Ping have been around this program forever,” Combs said of her two departing seniors. “Heather was on our first sixth-grade team at Northern Middle School, so she has been with us for seven years. Heather has just an awesome serve.”
“Brittany joined the team as an eighth-grader and she has really developed into a vocal leader, she leads by example and she is a hard worker,” Combs stated. “Both these girls have seen a lot of teams ‘come and go’ and I am just real proud of them for their positive attitudes and their leadership on the floor.”
Pulaski was led by Brooke Cable with 7 kills and 2 digs. Ashlie Dye had 5 kills, 2 blocks and 2 digs. Cara Boyd had 3 kills, 4 digs and one assist. Siarra Combs had 8 digs, 2 aces and an assist. Cara Baker had 3 aces, and Kim Phelps had 19 assists.
Pulaski (13-18) will travel to Bryan Station tonight in their last game of the regular season. Pulaski will take on Somerset in the opening round of the 46th District Tournament on Monday, Oct. 13, at North Laurel High School.

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