The Newton County volleyball team continued its strong play last week, traveling to North Mississippi.
The Lady Cougars suffered their first loss, falling to Class 6A Tupelo but bounced back and won the Cavalier Classic at Caledonia.
“We struggled to get going during all our pool games,” coach Matthew Beasley said. “We seemed to be a step slow defensively, our service game was off, and our passing wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be to use our middles offensively. Once we got in the gold bracket play the girls settled down and focused into play much sharper in our final 3 games of the day. We faced a lot of adversity and great teams throughout the day. I’m proud of the way our girls fought and found ways to win tough games.”
In pool play, County faced off with traditional power Tishomingo County and tied 1-1, winning the first set 25-19 before losing the second set 25-21. The Lady Cougars then beat Pontotoc 2-0, winning 25-16 and 25-19. County finished out pool play by losing to Tupelo 25-12 and 25-20.
That loss seemed to serve as a wakeup call for County as they beat Amory 2-0 in the first round, winning 25-19 and 25-18.
The Lady Cougars then beat Class 6A Starkville 2-1, winning 27-25 in the first set and falling 25-19 in the second set. County then won 15-13 in a third-set tiebreaker.
In the championship match, County beat Tishomingo County 2-9, winning 25-18 and 25-23.
Earlier in the week, Newton County took a 3-1 win over Petal, winning 25-15, 25-21 and 25-11.
Union
The Union Lady Yellowjackets got things going this past week as they took three wins.
The Lady Yellowjackets beat Pearl 2-0, winning 25-6 and 25-12. They then turned around and beat Lake 2-0, winning 25-16 and 25-19.
Union then finished out the week with a big 3-1 win over West Lauderdale, winning 27-25 in the first set and 25-21 in the second set. West took the third set 25-20 before Union bounced back and won the fourth set 25-17 to take the win.
Union now stands at 10-3-1 on the season and will host Neshoba Central on Tuesday and West Lauderdale on Thursday.
