Mineral Area starts strong but bows out to Jeffco in end

By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

PARK HILLS - The Mineral Area Lady Cardinals had the Jefferson College Lady Vikings on the ropes at the start of their volleyball match on Tuesday. With a versatile attack at the net, the Lady Cardinals had the Lady Vikings reeling to try and defend it. A junior college volleyball match is three games out of five, however, and what was going so well for the Lady Cardinals soon fizzled out, and Jeffco captured a a 25-30, 30-18, 30-27, 30-23 win.

MAC controlled the attack from the get-go and with the Lady Cardinals' austere blocking, Jeffco was forced to change up their attack, but to no avail. MAC jumped out to an 8-3 lead and Jeffco's coach Jo Ellen Stringer called time to readjust her team's thinking. At the break MAC led in kills 5-2.

MAC jumped up to an 11-5 lead when Lora Dickey took the service line and stretched the lead three more points. The Lady Cardinals controlled the tempo of the game as it went into the middle points. Jeffco finally scored two serves in a row by Lindsey Nagl with a jump serve.

The Lady Vikings adjustments began to take affect as they were able to match the Lady Cardinals point for point with neither team gaining any momentum. Jeffco's ability to attack the ball well caused MAC coach Tim Copeland to call time with the score 28-22.

With the first game under their belts, the Lady Cardinals fell behind early in game two as Jeffco's attack began to heat up. At 6-3, Jeffco's favor, Dickey made a smash for a point and then went on to serve three more points to give the Lady Cardinals their first lead of the game.

Andrea Rodriguez answered back for Jeffco and served four points against the smaller front line of MAC's, and only a floor crusher hit by Monika Jaroszewicz stopped the runaway. MAC called time at 14-11, but Jeffco's Sommer McCauley served up two points after the break to make the spread five points instead.

The Lady Cardinals seemed to be in disarray as their kill attempts missed the court and Jeffco went up 20-12 forcing another MAC time-out. Upon return to the court the Lady Cardinals were frustrated by Jeffco's defense blocking at the net. Jeffco went on to a 30-18 walk-away.

With one game each, both teams wanted the third game badly.

"We got down 2-1 and it's just hard to come back from that," said Coach Copeland in describing his team's letdown. "We just haven't learned to win, yet."

Mineral Area led for the most part at the start of game three, but Jeffco tied things up at 14-14. Both teams had their attack going well, but both teams utilized good defensive plays to keep on an even pace and the score remained tied at 25-25.

Jeffco moved out to a 27-25 lead and MAC called time. Jaroszewicz picked up one point with a kill and then double-blocked with Chaumone Robinson-Streater for another to tie the game at 27. Jeffco again went up by two, and again MAC called time. This time there would be no reprieve as a double block by Jeffco found MAC's hardwood.

Game four started very similar to game three. MAC grabbed the early lead, but Jeffco came back to make a game of it. This time, however, the Lady Vikings would not stick around and play side-outs with the Lady Cardinals.

Jeffco's relentless attack began to take a huge toll as Bianco Julio hammered smash after smash past Mineral Area's blocks and creating hardly any type of return by their defense. The poor returns resulted in MAC's lone setter, Gabrian, running all over the court to try and set a decent attack. Most times the attack would not happen, and Jeffco made little work of the free ball they received.

Julio made 14 of her 23 kills in the last two games alone for Jeffco.

MAC's Tiara Boyer had 14 kills with 10 of them coming in the last two games. Jarozszewicz had 13 kills and Cassidy Wisdom had eight. Dickey led in service points with nine and one ace. Jessica Murdick was tops in digs with 16 and Wisdom had 15. Gabrian had three solo blocks and shared in eight others.

The Lady Cardinals are now 9-4 and will play at home on Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Kaskaskia and John A. Logan schools.