The 2010 volleyball season got off to an exciting start for fans of the East Newton and Diamond teams.
The two squads played a back-and-forth match and after splitting the first two matches, Diamond rallied in the third set to take the match.
The Lady Wildcats won the first game, 25-23, before winning the third game, 25-21. East Newton’s win, in the second game, was 25-21.
The victory for Diamond came in the debut of new coach Josh Cook.
“It was a crazy night,” Cook said. “We ran a 6-2 rotation and we didn’t play that rotation until the middle of the second game. In game three, we had our regular rotation. We battled a lot of adversity. We had girls playing in much different spots and we got to see how they responded. East Newton is a great team and they battled all night. They have some really talented players.”
East Newton and Diamond faced the decisive third game with the win on the line and the visitors jumped out ahead, 9-3. In that early run was an ace by Diamond’s Kyleigh Copley and Jodi Lawson.
Some forced errors by Diamond — three-hit error and couple with a few side outs — helped East Newton rally and pull within a point, 12-11. Diamond then nudged ahead, 14-11.
The Lady Patriots came back to not only tie the game but also take a lead, 15-14, thanks to a three-hit violation and three more side outs giving East Newton the lead.
Diamond tied the match at 15-15 on a kill by Jodi Lawson, which started a back-and-forth frenzy. The match was tied 16, 17 and 18-all.
Diamond pulled when East Newton failed to return a volley, making it 19-18. A kill by Copley gave Diamond a 21-18 lead and another side out gave Diamond a 22-18 cushion.
The Lady Patriots had a short rally, coming back with 23-21, but didn’t get any closer in the match.
Stat leaders for Diamond include Kourtney Moreland and Lawson with six kills each. Lawson also registered seven blocks and Megan Wilson added five blocks.
The Thomlinson twins were among the stat leaders for East Newton. Shelbey had nine digs and Whitney had 10 assists. Haley Heilig and Christin Wheeler both had six kills each.
In JV action, Diamond won in two, 25-18 and 25-14.
Diamond and East Newton will play game two of the season tonight. Diamond travels to Joplin to face McAuley. East Newton treks across Highway 86 to play in Purdy. Both matches start at 6 p.m.
