HAMILTON — Ashley Clark doesn’t know what went wrong.
On Monday night, her West Lowndes volleyball team roared back after losing the first two sets to beat Okolona, 3-2. The Panthers overcame adversity and the big deficit to notch their third win of the season.
“They played well, and they overcame a lot of circumstances,” Clark said. “I was proud of them for showing leadership last night — as a team.”
But Tuesday, whatever fueled West Lowndes to the improbable win wasn’t there. The Panthers (3-7) were swept by Hamilton (9-2) in Tuesday’s road match. Set scores were 25-13, 25-13 and 25-10.
“I don’t think they played like the team I saw last night,” Clark said. “Tonight was a different team.”
Tuesday’s version of the Panthers wasn’t altogether awful, but Clark’s team was prone to mishits and short points that let the Lions run up the score. Hamilton ran off strings of seven points in the first set and 11 points in the second and third set to take control of the match.
Lions coach Bryan Loague said his team has improved from the past week, where it struggled despite a pair of wins over Okolona and Monday’s win over Nettleton.
“Tonight, I think overall we did a lot better communicating, being where we were supposed to be and keeping the ball in bounds,” Loague said.
West Lowndes, meanwhile, struggled in the same areas, with little communication between players and a lack of movement around the court.
“We could have done better — stepped more and called for the ball,” sophomore JaMya Brooks said.
Brooks acknowledged that the Panthers got discouraged when the Lions made big runs to build up the lead. Particularly damaging was in the third set, when West Lowndes won the first five points, but Hamilton countered quickly.
The Lions won the following four points, and on the next play, the Panthers’ Quankeria Halbert returned a serve off the backboard and then the rim of a basketball hoop in the back left corner of the Hamilton gym, a good distance out of play. The near-basket drew a loud cheer from the Lions’ crowd.
Hamilton won the next six points to take an 11-5 lead, a sudden and rather demoralizing run for the visiting school.
“We need to have a good attitude instead of a bad one,” said Brooks, who admitted that can be harder than it sounds.
Hamilton, for its part, did a good job of that Tuesday. The Lions are in their first year playing volleyball after the MHSAA discontinued slow-pitch softball last fall, and Loague said the transition wasn’t easy.
“We knew absolutely nothing,” he said. “It’s been a challenge.”
All but a couple of Hamilton’s varsity players also play softball, and the team missed out on camps in the spring and summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of the three practices a week that Loague envisioned, the Lions got together just five times all summer. They didn’t hold tryouts until mid-June.
But, still, Hamilton has found success so far in its first year of competition.
“We were a little bit behind to start with, but we’ve come a long way,” Loague said. “We’ve gotten a lot better since the first of June.”
West Lowndes had, too, but Tuesday was a bit of a step backward for the Panthers. Clark said she’s not sure of the precise reason for their struggles Tuesday, but she just hopes her team can fix them before a rematch with Hamilton on Oct. 8 in Columbus — and the sooner, the better.
“We don’t know what it was today,” Clark said. “Hopefully we find out what it was.”
Other scores
New Hope 3, South Jones 0
ELLISVILLE — New Hope beat South Jones in straight sets in Tuesday’s road match.
Set scores were 25-21, 25-18 and 25-15 as the Trojans picked up the win.
New Hope will host the Dig Pink Game against Caledonia at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Prep Girls Soccer
Starkville Academy 5, Tupelo HomeSchool 1
STARKVILLE — Lauren Bock scored twice to lead the Starkville Academy girls soccer team to a 5-1 win in Tuesday’s senior night match against Tupelo HomeSchool.
Kaitlyn Bock, Mia Kate Cade and Anna Claire Heflin also had goals for the Volunteers.
Starkville Academy will play at Pillow Academy in the first round of the MAIS Class 4A, Division 2 playoffs at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Lamar School 5, Heritage Academy 1
MERIDIAN — Heritage Academy lost Tuesday’s road match at Lamar School, 5-1.
Caroline Peal had the lone goal for the Patriots.
Heritage Academy hosts Columbus Christian Academy at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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