The Cougars didn't help themselves as they served badly, made some poor decisions at the net and saw several balls drop untouched through a lack of communication. Head Coach Kelli Harris believed her girls were not ready to play.
"Their heads were just not in the game tonight," Harris said. "I told them they need to be ready to play, not just when they are on the floor, but an hour or two before they take the floor. Right now that's not happening."
Harris said all the things that caused the team problems in this game were things they work on every day.
"We work on these things in every practice and I know they are capable of doing them. They just need to find a way of making it happen on the floor."
The Cougars started in a big hole in the first game and never climbed out. Giving up a rally point on their first serve, the Cougars saw Whitesville run off six straight to take a 0-7 lead.
After a sideout, the Cougars saw their next serve attempt sail wide. That was the first of nine service errors on the night, several of which came at crucial moments that could have put them back into games.
"Serving was our biggest weakness tonight," Harris said. "We thrive off of our serve and if we are not consistent with that it really brings us down."
With senior Savannah Barrett serving a couple of aces, the Cougars pulled back to 9-13, then later pulled to within three points at 12-15, but Whitesville would allow them no closer. The Lady Raiders scored the winner on a rally point to go up one game to none.
In the second game, the Cougars did not hold serve in their first four chances, but trailed only 4-6. They finally scored a point off of the serve to make it 6-8, but Whitesville took control of things with five straight to make it 6-13.
With the match on the line, the Cougars had several opportunities to get back in this game. However they served long or wide on three of the next four serving opportunities.
Grayson County trailed by just three, 13-16 when Trinity's Rachel Kaelin put away a beautiful crosscourt shot to give the ball back to her side. Trinity then served five straight to go up 13-22 and the match was pretty much decided. The winner came as Jamie Hagan gave a perfect set to Sarah McDaniel who put away the kill to take the match.
The Lady Raiders also took the opening JV match, beating the Cougars 15-21, 15-21. Grayson County held a 12-10 lead in the first game, but gave up five straight points and Whitesville kept control the rest of the way. At game point, Brooke Morris served an ace to notch the win.
The Cougars were never in the second game. Whitesville's Ashley Lanham took over the serve with a 1-3 lead and when she finished the Lady Raiders led 1-13 and could not be caught. Lanham served five aces in the run.
Still the Cougars never gave up. Facing match point at 10-20, they gained a side out and a rally point. Laura Dennis took the serve needing nine straight points to tie and 11 straight to win. She served three aces and won another point to bring it to 15-20, but her next serve was into the net and the Lady Raiders won the match on the rally point.
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