By KEVIN HARRIS
NEW ALBANY – Last Thursday in its home opener, a youthful New
Albany team suffered a five-set loss to Heritage Hills.
Last Saturday in the Bulldog Invitational, the New Albany
players showed they learned some important lessons from the setback to the
Patriots.
The Bulldogs claimed the Bulldog Invite title by defeating
the formidable Castle Knights in another five-set thriller at The Doghouse 12-25,
25-22, 30-28, 19-25, 15-13.
“All teams in every sport have finishers and that’s what we
did. I thought we showed a lot of toughness in that fifth game,” New Albany
head coach John Breeding said. “I think (the Heritage Hills loss) was a
learning experience. But at the same time in that learning experience, certain
people made the right choices to get the ball to who needed to get the ball and
put the ball away and finish.”
New Albany won the first match of the annual three-team round-robin
tournament over Hoosier Hills Conference rival Jennings County 25-17, 25-13,
25-17. In the second match, Castle rolled past the Panthers 25-10, 25-6, 25-15.
The Bulldogs (3-1) had a lackadaisical start versus the
Knights in the 13-point loss in Set 1. Immediately after the opening set,
Breeding had a talk with his players in the Vincennes Street foyer entrance of
The Doghouse.
“We said you guys are standing around watching instead of
being doers,” Breeding said. “I wanted to make sure that they understood that
if we’re going to go out there, we’re going to give it our all - win or lose.
We weren’t doing that in Game 1.”
New Albany responded with narrow victories in Sets 2 and 3.
Trailing 23-20 in the second set, Castle (3-1) pulled within one after a kill
by junior Jessica Nunge and a service ace by sophomore Carly Harpenau. But the
Knights did not get any closer after making a service error, then an attack
error.
New Albany built a 23-19 advantage in Set 3 when sophomore
Riley Winslow delivered a kill. But the Knights responded with a 6-1 run to go
up 25-24.
With the score tied at 28, the Bulldogs sewed up the set
with back-to-back kills by senior standout Allyson Cathey and sophomore
Danielle Grant.
However, instead of clinching the match in the fourth set,
New Albany went back to its Set 1 ways. Castle bolted out to a 12-3 lead. The
Bulldogs trimmed their deficit to 15-12, but that was the closest they got.
“Not taking anything away from Castle because (Knights’ head
coach Daniel Watson) has got a good team,” Breeding said. “But in both (Sets 1
and 4), it’s kind of like we just stood back and waited for things to happen
instead of making them happen.”
Trailing 9-8 in the fifth set, Castle reeled off four
consecutive points to go up three.
But New Albany had the last laugh. Down 13-10, the Bulldogs
went on a match-winning 5-0 run as Cathey smacked three kills during that
spurt.
“I thought we made some great plays during the whole match.
We’re always looking for people to compete,” Breeding said.
Cathey, a Western Kentucky University recruit, recorded 34
kills and 11 digs.
“What I’m most proud about Allyson Cathey is her overall
play,” Breeding said. “Everybody knows that the girl can pound the ball. Everybody
knows that the girl can block. But she has improved her entire game from serve
reception to serving to playing defense. That’s what I’m most proud of. She’s
becoming a good leader out on the court.”
New Albany senior outside hitter Shea Collett also had a
double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Collett served four aces.
Bulldog setter Kyla Weber distributed 50 assists and made 17
digs. Winslow had nine digs and eight kills. Also for New Albany, freshman Bree
Martin had 13 digs and senior Mary Claire Meyer wound up with 11 digs.
Nunge led Castle with 29 kills.
Cathey paced the New Albany offense against Jennings County
with 17 kills. Weber dished out 16 assists.
The Bulldogs will host the River City Invitational this
coming Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.
BULLDOG INVITATIONAL
NEW ALBANY 3,
JENNINGS COUNTY 0
Jennings Co. 17 13 17
New Albany 25 25 25
NEW ALBANY STATS
Allyson Cathey: 7
kills, 5 digs.
Riley Winslow: 3
kills, 2 digs.
Shea Collett: 4
kills, 3 digs.
Kyla Weber: 16
assists, 3 digs, 1 kill.
Danielle Grant: 3
kills.
Tess Owsley: 2
kills, 2 digs.
Mary Claire Meyer:
3 digs, 2 assists.
Saylor Knoy: 2
digs.
Bree Martin: 4
digs.
NEW ALBANY 3, CASTLE
2
Castle 25 22 28 25 13
New Albany 12 25 30 19 15
NEW ALBANY STATS
Winslow: 9 digs,
8 kills.
Cathey: 34 kills,
11 digs, 4 assists, 3 aces, 2 blocks.
Meyer: 11 digs, 2
aces.
Collett: 10
kills, 10 digs, 4 aces, 1 assist.
Weber: 50
assists, 17 digs, 1 kill.
Martin: 13 digs,
1 kill.
Grant: 6 digs, 2
kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace.
Owsley: 1 kill, 1
dig.
Knoy: 1 assist.
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