STARKVILLE — Wins can be dominant and effortless, or they can be ugly and gritty.
New Hope volleyball played more of the latter in Monday night’s four-set win over Starkville on the road, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21.
While the match wasn’t the cleanest by the Trojans’ standards, New Hope capitalized often off Starkville mistakes, used a great night from their outside hitters, and took care of business.
The win not only helped New Hope get back to .500 on the season, but propelled the Trojans in the right direction with a daunting last two weeks of volleyball ahead.
“I’m pleased with how we played,” New Hope head coach Allison Woolbright said. “It started out ugly and rough. That’s kind of a trend with us, but we pulled it back together. They had some great hitters and we were trying to adjust to that, but I think we did a great job overall.”
The Trojans (16-16) utilized their outside hitters well in the win, particularly senior Megan Neeb, who seemed to be firing on all cylinders when opportunities came to her.
It wasn’t just the outsides who made things work for the Trojans as the back line was stellar, digging balls, keeping points alive that looked unwinnable, and setting up the front line for more success.
“I feel like once we stopped [Zariyah Edwards] from getting blocks on us and good contact, that’s when we knew we could do this,” senior Molly Murphy said. “We just needed to get into our groove and we had it.”
Starkville (7-20-1) kept the match competitive throughout, playing the Trojans tough and taking advantage of errors on New Hope’s side of things quite often.
Head coach Meghan Mullane emphasized, after the Yellow Jackets’ win over Pillow Academy last week, that the team had shown great improvement in recent matches, and that growth continued to show on Monday.
“We came off of a really tough week last week,” Mullane said. “We’ve been having to just roll with it. With all of that under our belts and playing the way that we did, I think we did well. … We’ve been chipping away just a little bit at a time. The score isn’t where we want it to be at the end of the day, but the smaller things we’re working on I’m seeing carry over from practice.”
The Jackets still have a shot of making the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, needing a win against Clinton to clinch.
As for New Hope, the Trojans have a playoff spot locked up, but nothing solidified in terms of seeding, which makes these next two weeks all the more important.
“There’s always room for improvement and that’s what we work for every day,” Woolbright said. “It’s not getting any easier going into the playoffs. … I’m getting more confident every time we play. On any given day, any team can be beat(en), so we just have to work hard and we have to want it.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion