Northpoint girls soccer opens season with decisive win at Millington Central
Photo: Lake Cormorant players set up a block attempt during their match Tuesday, Aug. 15 against Lewisburg. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
A defending state champion and a possible challenger for a state title met on the volleyball court Tuesday night, Aug. 15 when last year’s MHSAA 5A winner Lake Cormorant hosted the Lewisburg Lady Patriots.
Lake Cormorant, moved up this year to 6A with the addition of a seventh classification, took on a Lewisburg squad now in 7A and that early on impressed observers with a second-place finish in the Gold Division of the first Mississippi Volleyball Invitational, hosted by the Mississippi High School Activities Association. In that event, the Lady Patriots did not lose a set through pool play and bracket play until the final match, won by Brandon 2-1.
Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s match, won by Lewisburg 3-2, and post-game comments from coaches Amy Hendrichkovsky of Lewisburg and Christina Morgan of Lake Cormorant.
SET ONE: We got a sense of how this match might play out immediately as teams traded leads back and forth and no team had more than a one point lead in the match until Lewisburg took a 9-7 advantage. But Lake Cormorant recovered the lead at 14-13. The Lady Patriots retook the lead at 15-14, but the set was knotted up again at 15-all when Lady Gators’ Ariana Woods scored off a block. That sparked a recovery by Lewisburg, which then reeled off 10 of the next 12 points for the 25-17 win. Jayda Bradley scored a kill to get the Lady Patriots to set point at 24-16, but Lake Cormorant scored a sideout point immediately after that. Another Lewisburg kill finished the set.
SET TWO: The Lady Gators opened the second set with a 5-2 advantage, but Lewisburg scored the next seven points for a 9-5 lead and a Lake Cormorant timeout. The Lady Patriots would extend the lead to 13-7 when the Lady Gators again called for a timeout. The break recharged Lake Cormorant, which came out of the timeout. Sofia Gonzalez lofted a soft shot onto the Lewisburg court to get the Lady Gators within 10-13 and it was Lewisburg that called for a timeout when Lake Cormorant tied the set at 13-all. The teams battled back-and-forth from there until Gonzalez took over with a number of impressive kills and put aways to win the set and even the match at 1-1.
SET THREE: Lake Cormorant came out strong to open the set and had a 9-2 lead before Lewisburg rallied and a 9-8 Lady Gators, a timeout was called. Lake Cormorant stormed ahead from there and had a 15-10 lead in the set when Kiersten McGarrity scored off a Lady Patriot hand. Lewisburg then rallied again to tie the set at 15-all when Lake Cormorant couldn’t return a volley. However, the Lady Gators surged ahead in the set for a 22-17 lead after a Lewisburg timeout. A long serve gave the serve back to Lewisburg at 22-18, but the Lady Gators scored three of the final five points, featured by a drop shot by Woods, and kills by McGarrity and Gonzalez for the set win and a 2-1 match lead.
SET FOUR: Again in this set, it was Lake Cormorant first out of the gate for a 7-3 lead before the Lady Patriots recovered and tied the set at 11-11. Later, a long volley gave the Lady Gators a 17-13 lead and held a 20-16 advantage after Woods scored off a block attempt. Lewisburg recovered and won the set and evened the match at 2-2, scoring nine of the next 11 points, scoring points off a block attempt, a Lady Gator violation and won the set with a point off another Lake Cormorant block attempt.
SET FIVE: Lewisburg immediately controlled the deciding set with a 4-0 lead but Lake Cormorant came out of a timeout to tie the set at 4-all and led the set at 7-5 after a sideout point. The Lady Patriots came back to tie the set at 7-7 after a drop shot point and led 9-7 after a service ace. A couple of kills, including from Bradley, got Lewisburg to match point before Lake Cormorant couldn’t return a volley and the Lady Patriots won the set 15-10 and the match 3-2.
Final match point as Lewisburg defeats Lake Cormorant in five sets.
COACHES COMMENTS: Amy Hendrichovsky, Lewisburg: Lake Cormorant played great and we knew they would play great. It’s the same group pretty much from last year and they’re a competitive and tough group. I’m proud of our team, we played tough and competitive with them, as well. It was a great battle on both sides. Both teams played well. We have five seniors who have played a lot and we have a big junior class, so in general, we’re a veteran group. I was really proud of the way we went down to the tournament in Jackson (Mississippi Volleyball Invitational, where Lewisburg took second in the Gold Division) and I thought they played very well and I was very proud of them. With that comes a target on your back and then you have to grind every night because everyone is going to try and come out to beat you. I thought we really handled that well on the road tonight and it was good for us.
Christina Morgan, Lake Cormorant: Two great teams that battled back-and-forth tonight. It was unfortunate that it didn’t go our way there at the end but I’m proud of the way we played. We played very well. In the fourth set I thought we could’ve closed it out. In the fifth set we had to come out stronger than we did, getting down 4-0 right out the gate, so I think they’re learning those kinds of things where we could have pushed a little harder in the fourth set or we should have started a little stronger in that fifth set. I’m excited about this team. We have some good experienced players but also very young players that are just improving day-to-day.
Tuesday, Aug. 15
Prep Volleyball
Hernando 3, Southaven 0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-7)
Lewisburg 3, Lake Cormorant 2 (25-17, 22-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-10)
NOTES: Lewisburg stat leaders: Jayda Bradley 31 kills, 21 digs, 2 aces, 2 blocks. Ella Grace Holloway 19 kills, 10 digs. Claire Smith 55 assists, 3 aces, 20 digs. Allie Kate Hall 30 digs, 7 assists. Lake Cormorant stat leaders: Sofia Gonzalez 20 kills, Kiersten McGarrity 14 kills, Ariana Woods, 10 kills. Jania Rose 3 aces, 23 digs. Gonzalez 19 digs. McGarrity 16 digs. Dallas White 40 assists.
DeSoto Central 3, Horn Lake 0 (25-7, 25-10, 25-8)
NOTES: DeSoto Central stat leaders: Genesis Weeks, Kasey Scruggs, and Zion Rucker each had 5 kills. Reese McIntosh had 5 aces and Sydney Tague had 4 aces and 22 assists. Katie Monaghan led with 5 digs.
Olive Branch 3, Byhalia 0
Northpoint Christian 3, Hutchison School, Tenn. 0 (25-22, 25-10, 25-22)
NOTES: Northpoint stat leaders: Quinn Thurman with 10 kills, 9 digs and 3 aces. Valerie Hurdle with 13 kills, 5 digs. Sarah Johnson with 36 assists and 2 aces.
Prep soccer
Northpoint Christian 9, Millington Central, Tenn. 2
NOTES: Lane Purdy scored a three-goal hat trick for Northpoint in the victory.
SPORTS ETC: Colton Rayman of Lewisburg shot a career-low 35 in a nine-hole meet…Lewisburg’s Avery Savage was the girls’ medalist with a nine-hole score of 36 and the Lady Patriots won a four-team meet with a school record low score. Lewisburg’s Drew Groscot shot a co-medalist score of 71 at a meet featuring eight of the state’s best teams at Madison Central. Lewisburg as a team was third in the meet. For Center Hill, Brady Scott shot a nine-hole 41 to lead the Mustangs at Cherokee Valley and Reese McNeer was the top girls’ golfer for Center Hill with a 38 for nine holes.
Monday, Aug. 14
Prep softball
Magnolia Heights 12, Heritage Academy 0
Magnolia Heights 13, Heritage Academy 0
PHOTOS FROM TUESDAY’S VOLLEYBALL MATCH BETWEEN LEWISBURG AT LAKE CORMORANT.
