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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Eagles unable to handle Loboes' hitters, servers
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles figured to have trouble handling Monahans' hitters.
But when they started having trouble with Monahans' servers, Tuesday's
match at the Pecos High School gym was pretty much over.
The defending district and regional volleyball champs jumped all
over the Eagles at the outset of their match, using the hitting of
Laura Crumrine to grab a 12-0 lead in the opening game, on the way to a
25-9 victory. But in the second game, with Crumrine on the back line
and the Loboes leading by only a 7-6 score, the Eagles were unable to
set up their offense off the serves of Monahans' Trisha Clements,
giving up 14 straight points on the way to a 25-10 defeat.
Game 3 was more like the opener, as the Loboes went ahead 8-0 behind
Crumrine on the way to a 25-7 win and a sweep of the match, which gave
Monahans sole possession of first place in the District 4-3A standings.
"We had a tough time passing the ball," said Eagles' coach Becky
Granado. "If we can't pass the ball, we can't do anything."
Brittany Hughes was the main beneficiary of the Eagles' second game
problems, coming up with a series of kills off free balls given up by
Pecos. Hughes and Crumrine also scored several times off quick sets, as
Pecos' blockers had problems handling the taller Monahans hitters.
"As far as our defense, we were completely out of position a lot,"
Granado said. "Their sets are shorter and not what we're used to."
"They're pretty much doing the same thing as last year, the only
thing is they've worked all summer long to get where they are at this
point," she added. "I told my girls they were in the gym all summer
long getting ready to go back to Austin, and that's the difference
between them and the rest of the district."
Pecos never really got a hard spike down against Monahans on
Tuesday. The Eagles' first point of the match came on a dink by Bre'Ann
Windham into an open spot on the court, while Leslie Rodriguez had a
hit for a point later, as the Eagles got to within 18-9 in Game 1
before Crumrine rotated back up front and Monahans put the match away.
Three missed serves in the opening match also hurt Pecos' chances.
In Game 2, Monahans had some problems of their own in the early
going, giving Pecos five points on unforced errors while the Eagles'
other point came on a hit by Danielle Garcia. Pecos did have a few
problems with the jump serves by both Crumrine and Hughes, but neither
was able to get that serve over as consistently as Clements did with
her normal serve, which the Eagles couldn't pass most of the time to
set up a good spike attempt.
Crumrine was able to both spike the ball past Pecos' back line and
tip it over Pecos' blockers and in front of the back line for points in
the third game. The Eagles finally scored on a tip by Stephanie
Herrera, but that would be the lone earned point of the match for
Pecos, as their other six came off errors by Monahans.
"I felt we were just intimidated by their height. They'll get up
there and hit the ball, and my blockers just had a hard time adjusting
to it," said Granado, whose team fell to 2-1 in district and 10-14 on
the season. Monahans saw their record improve to 3-0 and 27-5 overall.
The Eagles are now tied for second with Greenwood, which defeated
Fort Stockton last night on the Panthers' home court, 25-22, 25-20,
27-25. That's where Pecos will travel on Saturday for their next match,
against the Prowlers, before returning home to host Greenwood on
Tuesday, to close out the first half of the 4-3A schedule.
Monahans also won Tuesday's freshman and junior varsity matches,
taking the ninth grade contest, 25-17, 25-22, and the JV match by
25-22, 25-16 scores.
Eagles opening 2003-04 swim season in Odessa
The Pecos Eagles' swim team will open their 2003-04 season this
weekend, competing at the Odessa Invitational at the University of
Texas-Permian Basin pool.
It's the first of 11 regular season meets for the Eagles, prior to
the District 3-4A meet, scheduled for Jan. 23-24 at the Fort Stockton
High School pool.
"I'll still have a few people missing for Odessa," said Eagles'
coach Terri Morse, whose team swept the Region I-4A Championships for
the third straight year this past February. Pecos' boys placed fifth at
the Class 4A State Championships in Austin and have won all four
regional titles since 4A competition was split off from Class 5A in
2000.
The Eagles will have about 26 swimmers competing this year, though
they won't have a full team for the first month of the season. Morse
said her main absences at Odessa will be due to other extracurricular
activities, and on the boys' side it will affect diving more than
swimming. Two divers are involved in football, and will be absent when
competition begins on Friday at the UTPB pool.
"I've also got some girls involved in cheerleading, and they've only
been able to work out part of the time," she added.
The Odessa meet was held at the UTPB pool, and held outdoors, for
the first time last year. Swimming finals will be held on Saturday.
District competition will be the Eagles' third trip to Fort Stockton
this season. They'll go there for a dual meet with the Panthers on Oct.
16, and return for the Coker Invitational on Dec. 6 before the 3-4A
meet in late January.
"We opted to move the district meet a week back this year, so it's
the same as everyone else," said Morse. That will mean a two-week break
before Region I-4A competition at Lubbock on Feb. 5-7. The state meet
in Austin is two weeks later, on Feb. 20-21.
Along with their three trips to Fort Stockton, the Eagles will also
visit Lubbock twice, for regionals and the Lubbock Invitational
following the Christmas-New Year's break, and will host three meets -
duals against Monahans and Fort Stockton in late October and early
November, followed by the Pecos Invitational on Nov. 14-15.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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