Published: October 14, 2008 02:55 pm            

Pulaski ends Lady Jumpers’ season in play-in game

London — The Lady Jumpers’ 2008 volleyball season had it’s share of ‘ups and downs’, with one of its finest moments coming off a win over Pulaski County back in early August.

The Somerset win over the Lady Maroons was a program first.

But on Monday night at North Laurel High School, Pulaski put an end to the Lady Jumpers’ surprise season in a 2-0 (25-20, 25-6) win in the District 46 Tournament play-in game.

“This was a gutsy performance by our kids, especially in the first game,” Somerset coach Kevin Burkett said. “After playing in the All “A” state tournament this weekend, you can only squeeze that adrenaline gland so many times in a short period of time.”

“I thought the key tonight was whether we could handle Pulaski’s serve,” Burkett explained. “When we did handle it, it was a pretty even match and when we didn’t handle it, Pulaski had their way with us.”

Much like in the Lady Jumpers’ upset win of two months ago, Somerset had the Lady Maroons on the ropes in the opening game.

Paced by a Rolisa Jones kill from the back line and three consecutive Shelbie Skidmore aces, Somerset took a 20-18 lead in game one.

However, Pulaski turned up its offensive pressure with a kill by Heather Ping and an ace by Cara Boyd, added to the fact that Somerset committed two passing errors and two attack errors in the closing stages of game one.

Pulaski scored the last six points of the game fro a 25-20 game-one win.

“We are not a quick-moving, fast-starting team and, once again, we are inexperienced,” Pulaski coach Teresa Combs said.

Pulaski regrouped during the break and came out with vengeance as they ran out to a 13-2 lead. Pulaski’s Amanda Blanton and Siarra Combs, both were deadly from the service line in the Lady Maroons’ game-two opening surge. Combs served up three consecutive aces, while Blanton had two aces during her serve rotation. Also, Combs had a kill and Kim Phelps had two kills in the Lady Maroons’ early run.

Already leading 14-4, Pulaski went on a 11 to 2 tear to close out the game and the match. Down the stretch, Ashlie Dye had 3 kills and Cara Baker had two aces.

“Once Pulaski hit serves we weren’t cable of returning, they controlled the flow of the game,” Burkett said. “In the second game, we never could get the ball where we wanted to to be an offensive threat.”

After scoring 5 offensive kills and 7 serving aces in the first game, Somerset did not have a single offensive attack score in the second game.

“I thought our girls did a good job of refocusing in the second set, and we played way more aggressive in the second set than we did in the first,” Combs said. “I thought Ashlie (Dye) was aggressive at the net and that sets the tone for other good things to happen.”

The Lady Maroons were led by Ashlie Dye with 8 kills. Kim Phelps had 5 kills and 2 aces, while Siarra Combs had 2 kills and 3 aces. Also, Amanda Blanton had 3 aces, Cara Boyd had 3 aces, Brooke Cable had 3 kills, Heather Ping had 3 kills and Cara Baker had 3 aces.

For Somerset, Shameara Jones had 4 kills, Shelbie Skidmore had 4 aces, and Rolisa Jones had a kill and an ace.

Somerset ended the season at 12-19. Also, the Lady Jumpers’ finished runner-up in the 12th Region All “A” Classic and competed in the All “A” Classic State Tournament this past weekend.

“This year’s team has been a really pleasant surprise,” Burkett said with a smile. “We had 12 wins this season and I really didn’t think that was possible with as little of experience we had coming back this season. We had only two girls with any varsity experience at all.”

“I told the girls how proud I was of them this season,” Burkett added. “I told them that we don’t have to go back to the beginning of the season and start at that point. We can start from right here where we left off and go forward from here.”

Pulaski (15-17) advanced to the semifinals to play South Laurel in the nightcap ( See Page B1).

        

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