Dothan volleyball edges Northview

By David Mundee

Published: September 18, 2008

Sometimes in sports, it’s about preserving and staying confident.

The Dothan Tiger volleyball team did just that Thursday.

After losing the first two games to upset-minded Northview, the Tigers rallied to defeat their city rivals 22-25, 25-27, 25-21, 25-17, 15-13 at Jon Davis Gym.

“It was just about staying confident in themselves and in their teammates,” Dothan head coach Patricia Ball said. “They didn’t give up despite being down 0-2.

“We made a lot of mistakes, especially a lot in serving we don’t normally make, but the girls didn’t give up.”

Dothan improved to 6-4 with the narrow win. The youthful Cougars (only one senior) fell to 0-9, but not before playing their best match of the season, said head coach Mike Phares.

“I thought we played great,” Phares said. “In fact, I thought both teams did. It was like a heavyweight boxing match, swapping blows back and forth. I believe the fans should have paid more money going out the door for this match.”

The match was tied on 28 occasions, 13 coming in the first game.

Northview won the opening two games with late surges. The Cougars scored four of the last five in the opening game to break a 21-21 tie to win 25-22 and scored the last two points to break a 25-all tie and win 27-25 in game two.

A bump by Alecia McCray found a hole in the middle of the Tiger defense, and Lacy Vollmuth had an ace to spark Northview’s late first-game surge. A block by Amanda Stefin ended the Cougar win in game two.

Dothan, though, began to settle in the flow better, both in floor movement and passing and hitting, and it carried over into the third game. The Tigers, behind
Lawanar Talley, scored five straight to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 10-6 lead. Talley had a couple of kills and a block in the spurt, and Brianna Callins added an ace.

The Cougars rallied to tie it at 16 on an ace by Madison Poland, but the Tigers pulled back ahead with four straight points to go up 20-16.
Northview, as it did several times in the match, came back, cutting it to one at 22-21. But the Cougars hit a return into the net for a Tiger point, then Callins followed with a pair of aces to give Dothan a 25-21 win.

After falling behind 2-1 in game four, the Tigers surged ahead with five straight points, two coming off aces from Tiffany Martin. Dothan would maintain the lead the rest of the game on way to a 25-17 victory.

The final points came off a Davy Vollmuth kill off an assist from Martin and a kill from the back end by Katie Andrews.

The late kill seemed to ignite Davy Vollmuth. After struggling most of the match in hitting and serving, she opened the fifth and final game with three straight aces to give Dothan control.

“She is a senior and she came up big for us,” Ball said. “She has a sister that plays for Northview, and she also used to play there, so it is an emotional game for her. Her momentum there affected the whole team. Like the team, she hung in there and didn’t give up.”

The Tigers built the lead to 14-8 and appeared ready to finish out the match, but the determined Cougars wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Sparked by a dink kill by McCray and an ace from Lacy Vollmuth, Northview scored five straight to cut the margin to one at 14-13.

After two straight time outs, Northview served into the net, giving Dothan game five and the match.

Callins, Andrews and Davy Vollmuth all had four aces for Dothan, and Martin earned three. Carmela Kirkland delivered 10 kills, Talley eight and Andrews four.

The standouts were spread out too for Northview. Mercedez Lawrence had seven kills, three blocks and nine digs, Kyndall Bennett had two aces, two kills, five digs and seven assists, Lacy Vollmuth had seven aces and eight digs, Stefin nine kills, 12 digs, two aces and three blocks and Poland earned six aces, nine assists, three digs and a kill.

Also for Northview, McCray had four kills, four digs and an ace, Demi Brightwell had three aces, while Katelynn Jones had two digs and an ace and Shatera McDonald 10 digs.

Dothan JV wins: Dothan also won the junior varsity match, taking a 29-27, 25-11 decision.

For Dothan, Samantha McDonald had four aces and a kill, Emily Robinson three aces and two kills. Haley Dyck also had three aces and Caroline Faulk one.

Ashton Leger had five aces for Northview.