East Newton Trims Lady Mustangs

LADY PATRIOTS RALLY FOR 30-28 IN THIRD AND DECIDING GAME

RICK PECK MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County’s Lindsey Limore hits a spike past East Newton’s Aubrey McDermott (1) and Bethany Moorehouse during the Lady Patriots win Aug. 28 at MCHS.
RICK PECK MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County’s Lindsey Limore hits a spike past East Newton’s Aubrey McDermott (1) and Bethany Moorehouse during the Lady Patriots win Aug. 28 at MCHS.

East Newton staved off two match points before scoring the final three points in a 30-28 win in the third and deciding game to rally past the McDonald County Lady Mustangs 27-29, 25-21, 30-28 in an Aug. 26 non-conference contest at MCHS.

"I was proud of our effort, but our age definitely showed a lot tonight," said coach Kacha Kuhn of her mostly young and inexperienced team. "We had so many mental errors. Getting in the net, serving and we didn't pass well. I felt like we swung well when we had the opportunity, but we didn't give ourselves the opportunity to do that enough."

The first game see-sawed back and forth before McDonald County saved three game points on the way to a 29-27 win. The Lady Mustangs pulled out to a 16-12 lead midway in the game, but East Newton scored four straight points before the Lady Mustangs took a 24-21 lead, but East Newton held off three game points on the way to taking a 25-24 advantage.

Preslea Reece's kill squared the game at 25-25, but East Newton had its second game point which was erased on a kill by Lindsey Limore. The Lady Patriots had one more chance to win the game when leading 27-26, but a passing error allowed the Lady Mustangs to tie the score at 27-27.

McDonald County took it's first lead since earlier squandering its three game points when Bailey Rickett scored a point on a block. Alex Gross then gave the Lady Mustangs a 29-27 win with an ace on the ensuing serve.

In the second game, East Newton jumped out to a 4-0 lead and maintained an advantage until McDonald County took its first lead at 10-9. The two Big 8 Conference rivals (though the match was a non-conference contest) battled the rest of the way on even terms until the Lady Patriots turned a 22-21 lead into a 25-21 win by scoring the final three points of the game.

East Newton led for most of the third game, before McDonald County rallied after trailing 20-15. East Newton had a match point with the Lady Patriots leading 24-23, but Reece recorded a kill to tie the game at 24-24. McDonald County then scored on an East Newton error to take a 25-24 lead and served for the match, but the Lady Mustangs committed an error of their own on East Newton's return that tied the game at 25-25.

East Newton scored for its second match point, but the Lady Mustangs tied the game on Destiny Arnall's serve and then took the lead on a kill by Reece. East Newton held off that match point and another after a block by Rickett and Limore. But two errors kept East Newton in the match and a kill and a block gave East Newton the win.

"I am just glad we get to see them again," Kuhn said. "This didn't count as conference match and the next one does."

Reece finished with 15 kills while Lauren Goff had eight service points, including three aces to lead McDonald County. Arnall added 22 assists while Brittney Stone had five kills.

The McDonald County junior varsity claimed a 25-13, 25-14 win.

McDonald County hosted Webb City Sept. 2 before it travels to Branson Saturday for the Branson High School Volleyball Tournament.

Sports on 09/04/2014