Netters split conference wins

After three weeks of preseason tournament play, the Lady Dogies opened up conference play last week with back-to-back contests against Glenrock and Buffalo. Head coach Mickey Crabtree’s crew treated their fans with a four set win over the Lady Herders in the Dome on Friday, but dropped their contest against the Lady Bison in three sets in Buffalo on Saturday.
 
The Lady Dogies started slow against Glenrock, dropping the first set, 23-25. The second set also began in the Lady Herder’s favor, however Newcastle turned things on after digging themselves a 9- to 10-point hole. 
 
“It was nice to see the girls fight back after they were down in that second set,” Crabtree began. “We were down 10-19 at one point and climbed back in and then it was 19-24, and we never gave up.”
 
The young Dogie team was able to hold its composure and make a comeback when just one mistake could have meant the loss of the set. Once Newcastle tied things up, the two teams battled back and forth for set-point, with the Lady Dogies prevailing, 29-27.
 
The Lady Dogies put on a serving clinic for all in attendance as they ended the match tallying 20 aces throughout the contest. In just one time on the service line, sophomore Brooklyn Benshoof served five aces in a row and ended the night with a total of seven ace serves. 
 
“In the second and third sets, we had a lot of ace serves,” Crabtree explained. “We’ve really been working on deep serves and short serves, so it was nice to see them put their practice into the game and for them to see that it actually works.”
 
From there, Crabtree’s crew were in control through the remaining two sets. There were moments where Glenrock was able to go on a run, but Newcastle held them off to take the match win by defeating the Herders 25-17 and 25-18 in the third and fourth sets. 
 
“It was great to see the girls finish the game,” Crabtree said. “They played well together, they communicated, and when they play with that hustle and grit, they can accomplish a lot.”
 
On Saturday, the team headed to Buffalo to take on a powerhouse in the Lady Bison. The Johnson County team ascended to be ranked number one in the state in 3A after defeating Douglas at the Rawlins tournament last week, and they lived up to their ranking last week by picking up two conference wins against Moorcroft on Friday, then Newcastle on Saturday.
 
Both teams lost to Buffalo in three sets, and Newcastle dropped theirs 20-25, 11-25 and 6-25.
 
“In the first game, it was a battle and the girls played pretty well,” Crabtree insisted. “We fought for it, but we made too many mistakes against a good team like the Bison.”
 
In the second set, the Lady Dogies only earned two points, and in set three they only earned one point. According to Crabtree, all of the team’s other points came from Buffalo making mistakes and giving Newcastle points. 
“We really just beat ourselves,” Crabtree said. “We had 15, 12 and 17 errors in our three sets.”
 
“This was also our first experience with quick sets and shoot sets,” she continued. “They were really dynamic with their setting, they ran slides from the outside to the middle, and aside from Kenz, no one has ever seen that.” 
 
Despite their lack of experience with that kind of quick offense, the Lady Dogies were getting touches on the block, which Crabtree was excited to see. 
 
“They did pretty well with slowing the ball down, but defensively we played very undisciplined,” she said. “We weren’t in the right spots, and we reverted back to what we did early in the season. We didn’t show the grit we did against Glenrock on Friday.”
 
Despite the loss, there were positives to take away from the contest. 
 
“They really didn’t do anything crazy against us. They were a little quicker paced, but we showed that we could hang with them at times,” Crabtree said. “They did have a few good hits, which you can’t do anything about, but we were able to get touches and slow the ball down. The girls know that they can play better and can play with them.”
 
This week, the Lady Dogies will host the Lady Trailblazers of Torrington on Thursday, beginning at 4 p.m., then will go to Moorcroft to take on the Lady Wolves on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
 
“We’re still building, and the girls are anxious to work on mixing things up, but we are going to keep our focus on perfecting our game,” Crabtree said. “We are looking forward to Torrington and Moorcroft, and hopefully we can pull out two dubs this week.”