STARKVILLE — Once the Starkville High School volleyball team regrouped, it was too late.
The Lady Yellow Jackets, undefeated region champs and in the playoffs for the third straight season, managed just 15 points Saturday in the first two sets of their Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 2 first-round playoff match against Hernando.
Reeling from the accuracy and aggressiveness of senior hitters India Overstreet and Catherine Carver, Starkville’s stat sheet was littered with unforced errors by players in their first playoff match.
Though the Lady Jackets exited the playoffs with a 3-0 loss (25-8, 25-7, 25-20), they left the Newell-Grissom Building at Mississippi State feeling like they should have still been playing.
Starkville allowed four unanswered runs of eight points or more in the first two sets, falling behind 15-1 to start the second set.
But once Hernando hit the 18-point mark in the third set, Starkville tied the match at 20 following a kill from Khristian Carr before Hernando closed the set on a 5-0 run.
“We broke down in communication and we decided, I guess, we had a mind-set we were scared,” Starkville senior setter Wheeler Richardson said. “We didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t pass, we hit balls in the net, and just made more mistakes. At one point, it was a lack of confidence.”
Richardson paced the Lady Jackets with nine assists, four digs, and two aces. Her four kills in the third set sparked Starkville as she moved from setter and became more active in the attack.
“At that point, I was like, ‘I’m gonna get the ball,’ ” Richardson said. “We were timid and started tipping, which I hate.”
Carr added five kills and eight digs. Senior Grace Drumheller led Starkville (19-11) with 11 digs.
Hernando, runner-up in Region 1, moves on to face the winner of Lake Cormorant and Jackson Callaway in the North State final Tuesday.
Starkville coach Lauren Love said her team struggled defensively because Hernando fired shots from both corners and down the middle.
“We just tried to keep a consistent block,” Love said. “We didn’t face too many hitters in situations like we saw today. We have that in practice situations, but unless you’re in that game situation where you’re facing those kind of hits and those kind of hitters, it’s hard to practice and really get that level of defense.”
n Lewisburg 3, Caledonia 0: At Olive Branch, The Lady Confederates saw their season end at 17-8 in the second round of the Class 1 state tournament. Set scores were 25-11, 25-10, 25-7.
“We had a difficult time with serve receive,” Caledonia coach Samantha Brooks said. “No passes equals no offense. We played a good team, but we didn’t give them a run for their money like we did this season against teams of their caliber.”
Morgan Smith had one ace and two digs, Stevi Carter had four kills, one block, and two assists, Elisha Collins had one block and four digs, Taylor Hayes had four digs, Ashley Langford had one block and five digs, Sarah Freeman had one kill and two blocks, Cara Hopper had two kills, one assist, and seven digs, and Clara Wallace had two digs.
Carter and Langford are the team’s only seniors.
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