Never too early Lady Panthers working in several players to prepare for October
Thomas Sellers, Jr.
West 10/Legacy Media
The Battle of BHS on Aug. 20 brought together two teams eyeing different goals.
The district matchup between the Brighton Lady Cardinals and Bartlett Lady Panthers had the visiting Lady Cardinals of new Head Coach John Garrett looking to take another step forward after the debut game against Lakeland Prep.
Meanwhile the host Lady Panthers were trying to blend their lineup in order to challenge the likes of Arlington, Collierville and Houston in league play.
“They looked really good winning 3-0,” Bartlett Head Coach Abigail Duncan said of her team. “I think we started off pretty good.”
Bartlett earned district win No. 1 over Brighton 25-13, 25-19 and 25-16. Duncan rotated nearly a dozen players in the lineup against the Lady Cardinals.
“Just because I wanted to see us during our first home game, I just wanted to make sure I could see all of the pieces and how they work together,” she noted.
“We worked a lot during the summer mixing it up because we do have a lot of newcomers, a lot of seniors.”
Bartlett controlled the tempo in the opening set behind the play of Milan Harvey at the net. Then the Lady Cardinals chipped into the Lady Panther 9-4 advantage with scores from Katelyn Kikawa to make the tally 9-6. Bartlett proceeded on a 16-7 run to win the set scores from Emma MacFerran and Chloe Williams . Winnie Lausterer closed out the match with a kill for the 25-13 win.
The Lady Cardinals came out with some fight in the second set erasing an early 3-0 deficit. Brighton eventually tied the set at 7-7. Brighton was ahead 10-7.
The Lady Cardinals were leading 18-14 late in the set before Harvey seized momentum for Bartlett with a spike.
“Brighton looks a lot better than they have in the past,”
Duncan said. “Much better ball control.”
Garrett said his team has gotten better in less than 24 hours.
“We’ve improved tonight from last night,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing if we improve every night. That’s what we want, every time we step on the floor to get better. Tonight we were a lot better.
“I just tell them any time you walk into the gym, you’ve got a chance,” he continued. “That’s it, the momentum, anything like that we could shock somebody. That’s what we want to do, shock somebody. We wanted to come in here and beat them. If they don’t believe it, it won’t’ happen. That’s all we’re trying to do is make them believe and believe in themselves.”
Brighton received several highlight moments from players like Elizabeth Collins, Taylor Simpson and Kaitlyn Chapman to name a few. Collins’ serving an ace gave Brighton its first lead in the second set at 8-7. The Lady Cardinals led 18-14 before the Harvey spike
The Lady Panthers settled down and proceeded with a 11-1 run to outlast Brighton 25-19.
The third set was 11-9 in favor of Bartlett before Kylee Jones scored for the Lady Panthers leading to a 14-7 rally for Bartlett to close out the match.
Duncan said with pieces like Harvey, MacFerran and Williams working with the rest of the Lady Panther talent, Bartlett will have a spot to be atop of the very tough district.
“Converting on assisted balls, making sure we’re minimal unforced errors and making sure no matter what our energy is high with everyone thinking positively,” she concluded.
