By STEPHEN MONAHAN, Sports Editor
Gainesville Daily Register
Whitesboro —
The Whitesboro Lady Cats have their eyes set on a District 9-3A title, but before that’s attained, they must continue to work through non-district play to get better.
Stepping in their way were the Class 2A Callisburg Lady Cats at home Tuesday night and while Whitesboro pulled off the sweep, 25-14, 25-20, 25-14, coach Kelly Cherry knows there is still room for improvement.
“I was pleased with the win, but there’s definitely some things that need to be worked on,” Cherry said. “But it’s always nice to come away with a win.”
Cherry said what needs improvement the most are her team’s serving and to better communicate with each other when on the court.
“I think we are getting there,” the Whitesboro coach said of her team’s chemistry, “but we are in a very tough district and so I think there are some things that we need to improve on if we want to win a district championship.”
Helping along the way Tuesday for Whitesboro (9-7) were its big three in hitting as Katelyn Labhart, Courtney Davis and Kortni Dickson each tallied seven kills.
First it was Labhart who got the offense going in Game 1, smacking two kills to even things up early at 2-2. Davis later followed with two kills of her own and Dickson got in on the action with three early strikes to help take a 10-4 lead.
Callisburg (8-6) struggled often in the first set, falling behind 15-5 before the offense began to click and eventually rallied to cut the lead to five (17-12) late in the game.
Amerbly Colwell, Madeleine Lowe and Kenzie Pringle all had kills during that run for Callisburg.
But Whitesboro eventually put things in cruise control, outscoring its opponent 8-3 to close out the game.
Davis had three kills during that run and combined for another point with Labhart when the duo blocked a hard kill shot attempt by Karley Rohrbough.
The two teams traded side outs for the first six points of Game 2, but a point by Reanna Walker and another kill from Pringle gave Callisburg a 7-4 lead.
But unfortunately for Callisburg coach Angela Allen and her squad, that lead wouldn’t last as Whitesboro posted an 8-1 run to take a 12-8 lead. Davis and Dickson each had blocks for a point and Labhart added a kill. Becca Mock found space in the Callisburg defense for an ace in that span.
Whitesboro later took a 16-11 lead, but two kills from Rohrbough and a hitting error by the Whitesboro offense cut that lead to 16-14.
Callisburg continued to keep it close, down just 22-20 later in the game, but a kill by Davis and a couple of miscues by the Cooke County Lady Cats allowed Whitesboro to take Game 2 as well.
“I don’t feel like we came in confident thinking that we could win the (match),” Allen said of her Callisburg squad. “We came in scared. That’s basically it.”
Callisburg took another early lead in Game 3 at 4-1, but again they could not hold on, allowing Whitesboro to make a couple of big runs to take the match.
Davis, Ashley Kirby and Taylor Ezzell each had a kill, Davis added an ace and Rachel Urban notched a kill as part of a 9-2 run by Whitesboro for an early 10-5 lead in Game 3.
An ace by Walker and a kill shot by Colwell cut that deficit to 10-7 for Callisburg, but it could never get any closer as Dickson, Ezzell, Labhart and Davis all had points that helped eventually give Whitesboro a 19-12 lead.
Kirby and Ezzell each score kills and an ace by Taylor Crews helped put the game on ice for Whitesboro as it scored six of the last seven points of the game.
For Whitesboro, Davis added five blocks, four digs and an ace in the win while Labhart tacked on five blocks, seven digs and three blocks. Also contributing were Kirby with three kills and a dig, Ezzell with 10 assists, two kills, eight digs and an ace, Mock with 11 assists, three aces and six digs, Urban with five digs and an ace, Crews with three digs and three aces and Tatum Ezzell with one kill.
For Callisburg, Pringle led the team with five kills, Rohrbough added four, Lowe had three Colwell notched two and Walker and Kalli Byrom each finished with one. Lydia Hardcastle also added an ace in the loss.
