VOLLEYBALL: Lady Devils too much for Du Quoin
The Lady Indians showed some flashes of their potential, but ultimately Murphysboro proved to be the better team in Tuesday's volleyball season opener at Du Quoin High School.
The Lady Devils put it to DHS in straight sets, 25-12, 25-12, getting ten kills from 5'11 senior Heather Cross.
"I think when (our girls) saw how powerful Murphy was this year, they didn't realize that we have an answer for that," said Du Quoin head coach Jo C. Dill. "I think we definitely can hit stronger and better than we did tonight. I think we ended up on back our heels quite a bit."
After Murphysboro dominated the opening set from start to finish, Du Quoin came out strong in the second, building a 5-1 lead after a spike at the net from Mackenzie Jackson. But the Devils answered, rattling off nine straight points while the Lady Indians' errors began to pile up.
DHS stopped the bleeding for a moment at 10-6, but another five points in a row from the Devils put the match out of reach.
"The difference between the teams that end up on top and the teams that don't is what you do after those errors," Dill said. "We rolled off five on Murphy, Murphy didn't give up, Murphy didn't quit. I don't think our girls quit either, but we're still working on understanding the strength of our team."
"One of the things we talked about was that we had to keep Murphy out of their offense, and we did for a little bit in that second game - we were serving aggressively, we were keeping them out of their offense, and then I think they kind of returned the favor. We got a little flustered in there."
Jordyn Bullar led the Indians in both kills (5) and digs (4). Jackson added three kills and was one of four players with a pair of digs along with Alaina Caldwell, Taylor Gates and Afton Robinson. Caldwell led assists with eight, Gates led in aces with three, and Madison Dennis had a team-high two blocks.
The Lady Indians (0-1) return to the floor on Saturday at Herrin for the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Tournament.