Ladies Back Home After Long Weekend At San Angelo
    By Randy Hogan, Staff Writer ~ ~The Monahans New, August 30, 2005

The Lady Loboes returned to San Angelo over the weekend to defend their 2004 tournament championship at the Nita Vannoy Memorial Invitational.

Monahans won all three matches on Friday defeating Amarillo Caprock 25-5, 25-11 in the first match.  MHS defeated Big Spring 25-15, 24-26, 25-17 in the second match, setting up the rematch with Lubbock Trinity.

Just as in the two previous meetings with Trinity, the Lions defeated MHS 16-25 in game 25-22.

In Game three the Ladies trailed 15-7, and MHS ran off four points to close the gap.  Brittany Hughes stepped up and tied the game with a series of aces, before  the Ladies went up 20-19 in the  game.

From there the game was played side out through the end.

'It was a tough match with Trinity," Dominguez said.  "But we knew they would push us hard."  On Saturday the Ladies faced San Anglo Lakeview in the Gold Division Championship Bracket, defeating the Maidens 25-18, 25-11 in the opening match.

"The Lady Loboes faced a very tough Lubbock Coronado team in the semifinal round.  Coronado defeated MHS 25-22, 25-16 to post the only defeat on the Ladies impressive record in 2005. "We played really defensively against Coronado in the first game, Dominguez said.  I think we could have passed the ball much better, and could have kept our offense smoother, but we still played right with them."

In the second game Dominguez said the defense broke down because of blocking.  "We did not do a good job of blocking and as a result our defense was not as affective.  We didn't focus on the hitter, and they went ahead of us. 

"We couldn't pass the ball well enough to keep things going in game two."  Dominguez said.

Monahans went on to face Midland Lee in the final match of the night, and the Ladies won the match 25-23, 25-13 to secure third place at the tournament. 

"Again we started out a little sluggish in game one, but managed to regain our focus and put the game away," Dominguez said. 

In game two the Ladies took Control and played much better against Lee .  "We were moving our feet again and playing at the level that I expect from our team," Dominguez said. 

Lubbock Coronado went on to defeat Lubbock Trinity in the championship match 25-16, 25-17. 

"We are still focusing one game at a time and trying to improve all aspects of the game each time we take the court," Dominguez said.  "The defense was still not what we like to play, and our passing on offense was not as crisp as it has been in the past."

The Lady Loboes have now played 17 tough matches in the past three weeks, and fatigue is certainly a factor.  "We'll get our legs back and refocus on what we need to do," Dominguez said.

The Lady Loboes host Midland Christian Tuesday at 6:30.

"They have a big left-handed hitter that will give us a new look," Dominguez said.

"We want to play people that will throw things at us and make us adjust to them.  That will get us ready for the playoffs and get some experience facing that type competition."

The Ladies have worked very hard to represent Monahans and the long road ahead to defend their state title.  Come out Tuesday and show your support and catch some top flight volleyball.

Keyed By Jennifer Ray, Senior