Ladies Crush Midland Lee at Complex
    By Randy Hogan ~ The Monahans News, September 9, 2005

The Monahans Lady Loboes showed on signs of fatigue after their grueling road trip to the Seminole Invitational volleyball tournament, as they knocked off Class 5 A Midland Lee in straight games Tuesday night.

The Lady Loboes battled a playoff-type filed in Seminole over the weekend, winning six matches on the road to the championship.

Against Lee, the Ladies showed no let down by drubbing the Lady Rebels 25-12, 25-19, and 25-16 to seal the match.

In game one Monahans raced out a 7-1 lead, with Dina Ortiz serving the first three points. The Lady Reb's closed the gap at 10-7, before Catherine Cutbirth served an ace to break the game open.

Brittany Hughes continued her dominance at the net, recording multiple kills, and her supporting cast of Bailey Marcum and Bethany Willmon closed the door on Lee 25-12.

"It's important that we play the big teams, "Coach Patty Dominguez said. "We need to see every look we can before the playoff's, it will make our run."

Game two began much the same, as Bailey Marcum ran the Lady Lobo lead to 5-1 during her serve. Allison Miller came through big with timely kills to stifle Lady Rebel rallies. Candace Swarb finished off finished off Lee, executing precision passes to allow her hitter to pick the Midland defense apart in a 25-19 win.

The final game was played point for much of the way, but consecutive kills by Cutbirth and Mille gave the Ladies the separation they needed to take control. Cutbirth added an ace, and Lee called time out trailing 14-8.

The Ladies continued to keep the Reb's off balance, and took a commanding lead when Hughes served an ace to make the make the score 21-13.

Miller and Marcum combined to score off of a block, and Cutbirth served her fourth ace of the night to seal the game at 25-16 for the Lady Loboes.

"We have played a lot of games in a short time," Dominguez said. "The girls are fatigued, but we will be ready this weekend."

Monahans improves their season record to 25-1.

The Lady Loboes travel to Frenship for a duel match with the tigers and Lubbock Monterrey.

"I expect Frenship and Monterrey to play us tough," Dominguez said. "They are scrappy, and it will be our job to separate ourselves, they will give us a fight to the end."

The varsity and JV will play at noon and again at 1 pm Saturday, and the Freshmen are set for 11 am at Frenship.

Keyed by Jennifer Ray, Senior