Senators beat Trojans in season’s first meeting on court

By George L. Jones

The Selma Times-Journal

The first installment of the annual rivalry between the Meadowview and Morgan volleyball teams went in favor of the Senators.

Morgan (10-0) took a three-game sweep with wins of 25-14, 25-16, 25-17.

However, Senators coach Carrie Nichols wasn’t completely happy with the way her team played.

“We managed to scrape a win out of it,” Nichols said. “Today was whoever made the most errors was going to be the losing team. The kids all know each other, and they were trying to show who’s better. At least, I hope that’s what the problem was. This match was built up so much during the week.”

The Trojans (4-4) took their first area loss and were held to just 12 points on serve in the final two games.

But that may have been as much a result of their own mistakes as it was Morgan’s defense.

“We didn’t play our best game,” Meadowview coach Jennifer Moore said. “They’re still young and learning to pull together as a team. I hope we can continue to improve. Our defense needs a lot of work; and our serving. You can never serve enough.”

Kaylene Parrish led Meadowview with four kills and five service aces, and Kayla Kaldor added five aces. Katherine Kaldor had four aces.

Jaye Lyn Lawrence’s five kills and three aces led the offensive effort for Morgan. Catherine Armstrong had four kills, and April Clark had three kills.

Morgan took dominant hold of game one by getting out to a 21-9 lead. After Meadowview took the ball back down 24-14, the game ended on a service error.

Parrish gave Meadowview its biggest run of game two, serving the Trojans to four straight points and cutting their deficit to 18-14.

After the ball changed hands for a series of possessions, Erica Friday served four straight points to end the game.

Katherine Kaldor helped Meadowview get within three points in game three, 15-12, but Morgan took control of the game once again.

Kasey Green ended the game and the match on an ace.

Even with the win, there were noticeable flaws for a Morgan team on a hot streak.

“Our passing was a major problem,” Nichols said. “We couldn’t get passes across, so our hitting suffered. We’re in a new defense, which we’ve practiced for one day. We used it Monday and Tuesday, and it worked well.

“They just seemed to hit all our open spots on the floor tonight.”

Meadowview will get a chance to avenge the loss at home when the two teams meet Oct. 16.