The Lady Devil volleyball team hosted the number one team in the country last night in Coffeyville and things went as well as these things normally go when that happens.
Yes, Allen was swept and is still winless in KJCCC play, but the Lady Devils, who are now 5-19 overall, continue to show effort and improvement on the court.
We feel there are only a few things wrong right now and the major one is just getting everyone to believe that we can do it, head coach Whitney Shaw said. We were able to get to 16-points against them when we really werent even playing that well. Its not super close but its not a blowout.
The Lady Devils trailed for the majority of set one aside taking a brief lead at the very beginning of the set.
Despite the 25-16 set win, the Ravens lead never got higher than nine.
Set two was the Lady Devils best set.
Halfway through, they led, but Coffeyville got back in front at 13-12 and rode a 12-4 run to a win in set two.
We talked between the first and second set about how we needed to put more pressure on them earlier, Shaw said. We put some pressure on them late in the first set but it was too little, too late. In the end though, they just got us in a few runs and we couldnt push back out.
The Ravens cleared their bench in set three but Allen got themselves in a hole so early that even when they got momentum going late, they couldnt completely take advantage, falling 25-17.
Despite Allens conference struggles and struggles at home, Shaw says that shes seen major improvement and is hoping to close out the last part of the year with some positives.
Last weekend we went 2-2 at a tournament in Illinois and we came off of that feeling really good about things, Shaw said. We changed the lineup and its working but we just need to believe. I really think thats the problem. They have the top kills leader in the country and we were forcing them to tip and the net and thats huge. The improvement is there.
The Lady Devils will host Bethany Colleges junior varsity on Monday before traveling to Cloud and Johnson next Wednesday and Friday.
