By RYAN WALKER
PONETO — A third-set win was too little, too late for Southern Wells to come back at home against Union City Monday night.
The Raiders had struggled early on that carried into the second set, losing the first 25-14 and the second 25-10. But a quick 3-1 score made Indians’ head coach Kendell Wolfe use a timeout to try and stop the set from getting out of hand.
Southern Wells wouldn’t slow down, though, as it continued to command a lead throughout the first and forced another Indian timeout with the score being 15-13.
“As you can see in Game 3, we communicated, we moved, and that really plays over into our game,” first-year head coach Whitney Powell said after the game.
The back-and-forth battle continued with no more than a three-point lead separating the two schools until right at the end. The Raiders took a 21-17 lead, but right after the 21st point, the Indians crawled back into contention and tied the score at 21-21. Powell then used a timeout, which worked in their favor to close the set.
The final score for the third set was 25-22 Southern Wells for the only win of the night. The team looked more controlled, talked more on the court, and was more confident, something that Powell has been trying to work on with her team.
“We communicated,” Powell said. “Two matches ago, I got on them for communication, and they look over at me like, ‘I don’t know what to say.’ That’s the big problem. They haven’t learned exactly what they’re supposed to say, so we spent a practice talking about it.”
In the early going of the season, Southern Wells hadn’t won a set up until Monday night. The first two games were on the road against Eastbrook and Northfield.
As the new head coach, and one that has seen success at the varsity level with stops at Delta and Cowan, Powell said that the team is still learning how to compete and get through games like against Union City. The team showed flashes of what they could be but wasn’t able to put it all together.
“We’re still trying to learn how to be competitive,” Powell said “It’s not something that’s in their culture right now, and just pulling it out of them consistently is not there consistent. When we are, we look like a different team, so we’ve got pretty much two teams that come out right now.”
The team is also young, having three seniors on the roster and five combined sophomores and freshmen. Powell said that her team is looking for a leader among the seniors to be a vocal captain to lead communication while also seeking an identity from the group.
“We just don’t have that yet,” Powell said,” It’s just trying to get them to put it all together. We’ve worked on our passers. Our passing looked better tonight, but our hitters didn’t work so good tonight. We just haven’t put all the pieces of the puzzle at one time.”
Bristal Chapman led the team with eight kills, while the team had 15 aces for the night.
Southern Wells will host Monroe Central for junior varsity at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug 22 with varsity to follow.
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