Lady Bulldogs way ahead of last year’s pace

Sports

August 26, 2010

BY MATT McGILLEN CNHI The Zope Gazette Thu Aug 26, 2010, 07:25 AM CDT

Royse City — Having already doubled their win total from the entire 2009 season in just the first two weeks of the 2010 campaign, the Royse City Lady Bulldogs looked like they would add to that number when they jumped out to a two-games-to-none lead against Garland in their final match at the Lewisville tournament Aug. 20.

But the same things that hurt them last season when they finished just 4-26 – youth and inconsistency – came back to haunt them as they dropped the next three games to fall 22-25, 16-25, 25-13, 25-23, 15-10 to the Lady Owls to finish the tournament 2-4.

Still, sitting at 8-7 for the year, second-year coach RC Robyn Hill sees lots of positives in this year’s edition of the Lady Bulldogs.

“We are ahead of where we were at this time last year,” said Hill, whose team finished just 1-11 in District 10-4A in 2009. “And the more we play the better we get. I’m really excited about that.”

Hill, who spent 13 years at 3A Bonham before taking over at Royse City prior to the 2009 season, knows her team’s success will depend on her underclassmen continuing to improve and getting the team as a whole to play well all the time.

“We are young,” said Hill about her roster that includes just two seniors, Jennifer Null and Taylor Jordan. “And we have to be more consistent. We had some good points (in the matches) and some bad points.”

Some of those good points occurred in the first two games against Garland when the Lady Bulldogs watched a 18-8 lead turn in to a 19-18 deficit only to rally and pull out a 25-22 win. In the second game they shook off a 5-1 disadvantage to pull even at 8-apiece and then ran off eight straight points, including four consecutive aces by sophomore Kayla Simmons, to roll to an easy 25-16 win.

The bad came shortly after.

In game three the Lady Bulldogs quickly fell behind 15-3 and were out of the match early. In game four, RC and Garland were never more than four points apart, with the Lady Bulldogs actually closing to 24-23 on a kill by another sophomore, 5-11 Tori Green,

before the Lady Owls scored the next point to force a decisive game five.

Again falling behind early, trailing by as many seven points at 10-3 in the first-to-15-points tiebreaker, the Lady Bulldogs went on a 7-4 run to cut the margin to 14-10 but got no closer.

Despite the tournament-ending loss though, Hill remains optimistic about her team’s chances, especially since the Lady Bulldogs will be moving to District 13-4A, leaving behind such volleyball powers as Rockwall, fast-rising Heath and perennial state contender Highland Park.

“It’s refreshing (the move to another district),” said Hill. “And I think we are more enthusiastic. And it’s not really even about winning and losing. As long as they play hard that’s all that matters. As long as they leave it all on the court.”

The next chance for the Lady Bulldogs to do so will be when they entertain Lakeview Centennial Aug. 24 at 6:30 at RCHS.

The Lady Bulldogs will then host their own tournament Aug. 26-28 beginning at 9 a.m.

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