WATSON -- After a pair of tough defeats, the Live Oak volleyball team is back in the win column.
The Lady Eagles ended a two-game losing skid by sweeping district opponent Belaire in straight sets Wednesday night at C.B. Wheat Gymnasium.
Live Oak (14-8, 5-2) won for the first time in six days, following losses to Central and Brusly. The victory kept the Lady Eagles ahead of Woodlawn for second place in the Division II, District 3 race with three league games left.
It was a welcome return to form for Live Oak.
“The intensity (Wednesday) was brought more than (Monday against Brusly),” Lady Eagles’ coach Madison Vige said. “(On Monday), they were kind of lax and didn’t play to the best of their ability.”
Several players chipped in during the 3-0 rout of Belaire (6-15, 1-4), which hasn’t won since Sept. 28.
Eight players collected at least one kill for Live Oak, led by Brennen Parker’s game-high eight. Kelsey Miller tallied six kills while Olivia Betz and Mazee Smith each had five. Junior Sarah Shoun assisted on 16 kills for the Lady Eagles, and Betz and Miller combined for an additional eight. Six Live Oak players recorded an ace – including a game-best six from Kendall Theriot – as the squad finished with 21.
“We have all the parts to compete,” Miller said. “We just need to learn how to put them together and finish games.”
The start to Wednesday’s clash with Belaire was more concerning than the finish. The squads went back and forth in the first set, tying four times and exchanging four leads until Vige called a timeout with the score knotted at 10-10.
“I had to give a little pep talk and motivate them a little bit,” Vige said. “I told them we can’t beat ourselves with mental errors.”
The message was received loud and clear as the Lady Eagles reeled off a game-changing 13-0 run before cruising to a 25-11 win in the first set.
The second set began much like the first, with Live Oak and Belaire trading points until the Lady Eagles were able to pull away. Tied 3-3, a kill from Parker jump started a 12-3 burst for Live Oak, which overcame eight errors in the set to pull out a 25-14 win.
Live Oak handed the Lady Bengals more than half their points over the three sets thanks to errors (23 of 35), something Miller said was the result of her squad’s recent two-game stretch.
“We’ve had two really intense games back-to-back, so we were mentally and physically drained,” Miller said. “You just have to tough it out, and we did (Wednesday).”
After rallying in the first two sets, Live Oak led from start to finish in the third, easily downing Belaire 25-10 to pick up the sweep.
The Lady Eagles return to the court in a home district match with Woodlawn on Senior Night at 7 p.m. Monday. They close the season with three road games against Broadmoor, Tara and Springfield.
