Ladies dust Devils, extend district winning streak to 30 games

    By Randy Hogan, Staff Writer  ~ The Monahans News, October 18, 2005

The Monahans Lady Loboes assured themselves no less than a share of the District 3-3A title Saturday by punishing the Lady Devils in straight sets 25-9, 25-4, 25-16.

With only two matches left on the schedule for MHS, the Lady Loboes can sweep the district with wins at Ft. Stockton and Pecos. Monahans extends their district winning streak to 30 consecutive matches, dating back to the 2002 season.

Presidio (18-11), falls 2-2 in district, and must also beat the Prowlers and Eagles to hold onto the second position in the district standings.

The Lady Loboes hosted Parent Day ceremonies before the match, an annual event set aside to recognize MHS players' parents.

Monahans (35-3), broke Vanessa Armendariz' opening serve, sending Bailey Marcum to the line for the Green.

Candace Swarb and Brittany Hughes would highlight the early moments of the set, putting up a big block to move to a 3-0 lead.

Hughes followed with two consecutive kills to frustrate the Lady Devils.

Kalie Harris picked up a key dig, setting up a Catherine Cutbirth smash for point into the PHS side of the court.

PHS got on the scoreboard on an MHS error, but Alison Miller returned the favor by breaking serve with a blast from her cannon right to extend the Ladies lead to 9-4.

Monahans pounded their way to a 12-4 lead off the serve of Swarb, and PHS coach Sernia Armendariz was forced to use a time out. 

Presidio rallied for three points, but Swarb had a key dig out of the net to set Cutbirth up for a kill. Moments later, Bailey Marcum pulled the trigger on a short set from Swarb for a 15-8 lead.

With Dina Ortiz at the line, Hughes continued to blast the Blue Devils, and PHS used a time out once again trailing 19-8.

PHS would break serve and record their ninth point, but the Ladies would roll up the final six points off the serve of Marcum for a 25-9 first set win.

Ortiz began game two at the serving line getting help from Marcum and Hughes. The duo posted the big block for point, and Hughes nailed two big kills to the floor for a 4-0 lead.

During Ortiz time at the line, Hughes accounted for 3 kills of the six points.

Presidio felt the heat of two Bethany Willmon kills, and Marcum served an ace to put the Ladies up 9-1. Coach Armendariz called timeout to settle her Devils.

Marcum served eight consecutive points from the line, getting help from Hughes with 4 kills and a block, for  an impressive 16-1 lead.

Presidio would get as close as 21-4, but Alison Miller put down two kills to spring the Lady Loboes to a 25-4 victory in game two.

The third set started with a spectacular scoring effort from MHS as Swarb set up a high flying Hughes off of Armendariz' serve, and Hughes blasted the PHS defenders to break serve. The Ladies went up 3-0.

Ashley Hicks served an ace, and Cutbirth followed with a smash into the PHS side of the court for point. Ortiz added a kill to put the Ladies up 7-3.

Presidio would close the gap to 8-6 off MHS hitting errors, but the Ladies fought back to stretch the lead off the serve of Swarb for five straight points. PHS called a time out trailing 13-6.

Coming off of the break, Marcum belted two kills for points to move the Green up 15-6.

The Blue Devils broke serve, but Miller hammered the ball to the floor to put the Green back on the serving line.

Presidio would trade points with the ladies through the remainder of the game, getting big blocks from Armendariz to keep the score respectable.

"It was a good day," Coach Patty Dominguez said. "Everyone got to play and we executed well." 

The Lady Loboes were impressive in clearing the bench early, and Coach Dominguez got big digs by Harris, Ortiz and Paige Shaw in the match.

"It was a memorable and emotional day for the girls, and everyone got to play," Dominguez said. "We had a  few miscues and hitting errors in the third set, but overall we did really well mixing up our rotation."

Statistics for Monahans include: 
Kills - Brittany Hughes 20, Candace Swarb 2, Alison Miller 6, Bethany Willmon 2, Catherine Cutbirth 5, Bailey Marcum  3, Dina Ortiz 1.

Blocks - Hughes 4, Swarb 2, Cubirth 1, Marcum 1.

Assists - Swarb 33, Hughes 1, Kallie Harris 1.

Digs - Hughes 7, Swarb 7, Miller 1, Willmon 1, Cutbirth 3, Marcum 5, Ortiz 6, Harris 2, Paige Shaw 1, Ashley Hix 1.

Aces - Hughes 2, Swarb 1, Willmon 1, Marcum 3, Ortiz 1, Hicks1.

The Lady Loboes travel to Ft. Stockton Tuesday for a district showdown at 6:30 pm. With a win over the Prowlers Tuesday, Monahans can claim an outright District 3-3A title, and extend their string of district championships to four in a row.

The title will also be the fourth for Brittany Hughes, who has played varsity ball since her Freshman year.

"The district winning streak is a credit to the kids and their parents," Dominguez said. "The parents give their kids every opportunity to succeed and the winning attitudes start at home

"It makes our job easy as coaches to have that advantage."

Keyed by Jason Dimm, Senior