Lady Dogies fall short at home

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
For the second weekend in a row, the Lady Dogies tasted the possibility of victory only to be denied in the end. After losing to Thermopolis a few weeks ago on their home court, Newcastle was ready to even the score as the Lady Bobcats came to town last Friday for the quadrant rematch.
“We started out great guns, but I think fear of the ‘W’ may have set in,” head coach Ashley Reed began. “We also lost Shelby [Davis] at the beginning of the third set when she rolled her ankle, so having to adjust to new players in her spot may have contributed as well.”
It was all Newcastle in the first two sets, as they showed great hustle, team work and aggressive net play to take the 2-0 set lead in the match by scores of 25-20 and 25-21. 
In those first two sets, the Lady Dogies made some great plays. At one point in the second set, Claire Beastrom made an incredible save which spoke to her athleticism, quick thinking and soccer skills. In volleyball, it doesn’t matter how you get a ball up as long as there is not prolonged contact. In other words, you don’t necessarily have to use your hands.
In the battle that was the second set, the Bobcats sent a hard driven spike over the net and Beastrom used her foot to place the ball precisely where the setter needed it. The Lady Dogies ended up winning the point. 
“You could just see her work that through in a split second,” Reed laughed. “She went for it with her hands but realized that her foot was a better option because she wouldn’t have gotten to the ball the traditional way. It was great!”
Momentum is key in the game of volleyball, and while it appeared as though Newcastle had it going into the third set, it soon became apparent that Thermopolis had turned things around as the Lady Dogies struggled to get out of the first service rotation.
Then adding to the problem Davis suffered her ankle issue, which meant replacement players entered the game to fill her position. While Reed was, and remains, confident in the abilities of all players she puts on the court, she admitted that personnel changes can throw a team off their game.
“Shelby is one of our leaders on the court who is solid and is a positive presence for us,” Reed began. “Losing that leadership can be hard, and it took a minute for the girls to adjust.”
The Lady Bobcats were able to take advantage of the adversity on Newcastle’s side of the net to cruise to a 25-15 victory so lived to play another set. In the fourth, Thermopolis was able to keep momentum on their side, though the Lady Dogies began to adjust as time wore on.
“We got behind early again, but we fought valiantly only to lose 18-25,” Reed sighed. “Everyone brought it this weekend, so to lose after having started off so well was heart-breaking. We’re so close, yet so far.”
In the fifth and deciding set, the Lady Dogies had a 10-6 lead. However, the Bobcats went on a run and pulled out the 15-13 win to take the match.
Reed commented that it seemed as if her team started to panic a little about winning, so they started getting cautious with their offensive play. Rather than attack the net as they had in the first two sets — which led to victory — they began to just get the ball over the net, hoping for Thermopolis to make a mistake rather than forcing them to falter against big hits.
This week the Lady Dogies will close out their regular season play with their last home contest on Friday against the Douglas Lady Bearcats, and then will travel to Buffalo for a triangular against the Lady Bison and the Burns Lady Broncs. All three contests will count toward conference record with the matchup against Buffalo impacting Regional seeding for the northeast quadrant.