Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Lady Chiefs move to 5-0

Looking to at least match last season's success, which included a finish in the state's top eight, the McIntosh Lady Chiefs have won their first five matches of the 2003 season, including four in a row Saturday at McEachern.

The Lady Chiefs opened the season last Thursday at home with a 2-0 win over Union Grove. After that came victories over four different Cobb County schools at the McEachern event: 2-0 over McEachern, 2-0 over Marietta, 2-1 over Sprayberry and 2-0 over Lassiter.

Our Lady of Mercy: The Lady Bobcats kicked off the season Aug. 12 when they hosted Fayette County and Northgate in a tri-match.

OLM won a best-of-five match over FCHS (18-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-8) and a best-of-three match over Northgate (25-19, 25-15). Northgate also defeated FCHS (18-25, 25-22, 15-12) in a best-of-three match.

Starr's Mill: A trip to Cherokee High School filled the Lady Panthers' schedule this past weekend as they participated in the 2003 Sequoyah Classic along with more than 40 Atlanta-area high school teams.

Strong serving and good defense led to wins over their first two opponents, Cherokee (25-16, 25-14) and Dunwoody (25-19, 25-11). The front line hitters for Starr's Mill took full advantage of solid setting in the next two morning matches, getting numerous kills from both outside positions as well as the middle. With this triple-threat offense, the Lady Panthers were able to beat a strong Decatur team (26-24, 25-18), and earn a win over Ringgold (25-12, 25-22). Starr's Mill ended up their morning pool play 4-0, moving them into the first round of the championship playoffs.

Coach Dottie Licciardi said the tournament provided her team with the necessary competition to see where they stand as a team and what skills they need to work on. "For the start of the season, I am very pleased by our level of play," said Licciardi. "The girls have a great attitude and team spirit. They are focusing now on working as a team unit."

In the first playoff match Starr's Mill faced off across the net against East Coweta, who placed second in last year's area playoffs. Well-placed hits by East Coweta's strong, tall front line put an end to the steamrolling Lady Panthers, who dropped both games to their local rivals (20-25, 19-25) in single-elimination play.

"We have some areas to work on this week such as covering the court against the right side hitter and becoming more consistent servers," said Licciardi. "We gave East Coweta five points at the service line in game two of the match, and in a game that ended 19-25, these errors were critical. We did, however, have good serve receive and free ball passing. We have been working on this daily in practice and it is starting to come together."

Strong performances were turned in by seniors Stephanie Dazey and Erica Rutland and juniors Kursten Carr, Shelley MacBean and Niki Patriarca.

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