Starkville Daily News

Lady Jackets rally, but lose in five sets

By DANNY P. SMITH

Coach Sierra Pittman saw her Starkville High School volleyball team get to within a point of winning Monday night’s match against Neshoba Central four times in the final set.

After losing the first two sets, Pittman was glad to see the Lady Yellow Jackets come back and ended up losing a 3-2 decision to the Lady Rockets at the Partnership Middle School Gymnasium.

Pittman like the fight in

SHS to win sets three and four and making a run in the fifth set, but just wished that intensity had come a little bit earlier.

“I wish they would have played like that the first and second set,” Pittman said. “The energy was down.”

Neshoba Central won the first set 25-21 and jumped out to a 20-10 lead in the second set to secure a 25-20 decision.

Despite going down early in the third set 6-4, the Lady Jackets earned their first lead

of the match at 7-6. A kill by Abbigail Upchurch later in the set increased the SHS advantage to 17-10.

The Lady Jackets went on to win the third set 25-17 and used that momentum to claim the fourth set also 25-21.

In the fifth set, the Lady

Rockets jumped out to a 9-3 lead, but Starkville battled back to get the set tied at 1212. Neshoba Central held a two-point edge at 14-12, but the difference did not match that two-point difference until the Lady Rockets won the set 21-19. The Lady Jackets had match points at 16-15, 1716, 18-17 and 19-18, but just couldn’t finish.

“It was neck and neck, but they are a good team,” Pittman

said of Neshoba Central. “They are good to play and very scrappy.”

Mallory Williams led SHS with 15 digs, while Upchurch paced the attack with 17 kills. Zariyah Edwards had 10 blocks.

The Lady Jackets are scheduled to play at Kosciusko, but play their final Class 6A, Region 3 match of the season Thursday at Tupelo.

FRONT PAGE

en-us

2021-09-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://starkvilledailynews.pressreader.com/article/281612423555216

Alberta Newspaper Group