Sand Rock's Megan Battles leaps high for a ball against Westbrook Christian on Monday.
On Monday, the Lady Wildcats opened the 2009 season with a tri-match against Class 2A, Area 10 rival Westbrook Christian and perennial Class 3A state tournament representative Pleasant Valley.
Sand Rock (2-0) wasted little time in disposing of Westbrook (1-1), sweeping the best-of-five match 3-0. The scores were 25-7, 25-15 and 25-9.
Things were a little tougher against Pleasant Valley (5-3). Sand Rock held off the Lady Raiders 26-24 in game one and 25-22 in the second game before cruising to a 25-16 victory in game three.
“It was a good way for us to start,” Bates said. “We played so much this summer, it doesn’t feel like our first games. It feels like we’re already into the year instead of this being the first. We’re gelling like we’ve played for a while.”
“Winning that first one (against Pleasant Valley) was huge. That gave us confidence and momentum. If we would have lost the first one, I’m afraid our mental status wouldn’t have been as good. I think it gave us a boost to where we needed to finish off the match.”
Jennifer Campbell led the way for Sand Rock on the day with 22 kills, including the new gym’s first kill against Westbrook. Logan Smith added 59 assists. Megan Battles had 18 kills, 12 digs and six aces.
Smith and Battles recorded the first block in the new gym, and Battles recorded the first ace.
Carrie Robertson came away with 13 kills, eight digs and seven aces. Karlie Anderson posted 13 kills and eight aces. Gena Farmer had 18 digs, including the new gym’s first dig. Kayla Mashburn finished with eight digs.
Bates said she was proud of the balance the Wildcats showed in both their matches.
“I thought we played real well-rounded, as far as spreading out our stats and spreading out our hits,” she said. “We passed the ball pretty well today. It was a good first day, and we’ll take that.”
Coming into the season, the Wildcats had to find a replacement for setter Chelsey Chambers. Smith took the challenge upon herself, and so far she’s paying dividends, according to Bates.
“She’s really taking on the role with heart,” Bates said. “She’s really doing a tremendous job of getting to the ball. We run her ragged sometimes, but today we got it right to her and the girls put the ball away. That helps with the assists when you put the ball away. She’s just doing a great job for us, and the girls trust her.”
Bates also lauded the performances of Cambell and the other Sand Rock hitters for their contributions to the wins on Monday.
“Jennifer is a real strong hitter, but we’ve also got other weapons in our arsenal so they can’t just focus in on her,” Bates said. “I think that’s big. If we just had one, it’d be real easy to stop. Megan is doing a great job out of the middle. She’s putting the ball where they’re not. Carrie had some good swings today and we had some good serving. It also helps having Karlie in the middle. She can really pound the ball, so having four good hitters I think is going to make us a really strong team.”
Sand Rock doesn’t have long to celebrate its first pair of wins in its new gym. The Wildcats host defending Class 1A state champion Gaston and Plainview in a tri-match on Tuesday beginning at 4 p.m.
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