Volleyball loses to Siegel, Riverdale: Lady Pioneers’ late rallies fall short in tri-match

By ADAM SPARKS / Mid-South Sports Network

MURFREESBORO — With losses to both Riverdale and host Siegel Tuesday, Warren County has been swept by all four Murfreesboro squads.

“We’re in the stage now where we’re young and still improving,” said coach Franklin Fisher, whose Lady Pioneers (7-8) were defeated by Oakland and Blackman each in straight games in late August. “And that’s really what I’m looking for, to improve each match and be competitive.”

Warren County was slow in finding its rhythm against first-year school Siegel, losing 13-25, 16-25, 24-26. The Stars rode a 17-6 start en route to a first game win to grab the match’s momentum until late in the third game.

“We got better when our serve was going,” Fisher said. “We made some adjustments and experimented with some things.

“I saw a few good things I might want to continue trying in the next few matches, but we couldn’t keep things going long enough to stay in it (Tuesday night).

After a sloppy showing in a loss in game two to Siegel, the Lady Pioneers finally found their rhythm.

Warren County countered another Stars’ burst with a run of its own behind nine straight service points from sophomore Kara Youngblood to take a 14-10 lead.

However, from there Siegel’s serve warmed up and the Lady Pioneers returned to its earlier form featuring miscommunications and hitting errors.

In its match versus Riverdale, Warren County met similar results.

The Lady Pioneers put together a handful of runs but couldn’t sustain enough consistent play to snatch a victory, falling 23-25, 15-25, 25-23, 22-25.

Warren County’s McKenna Rhea landed seven straight service points to pace a 21-17 lead in game one.

However, Riverdale’s front line — led by Megan Neal, Lauren Britton and Lindsey Nolan — pounded away near the net to secure the game victory.

Youngblood and Candace Stubblefield served to lead a late rally to take the third game over Riverdale before the Lady Warriors finished the job with Meredith Thomas landing a series of kills in game four.

Warren County will join Lincoln County at Tullahoma in a tri-match Thursday starting at 2:30 p.m.