Lady Loboes begin District 2-3A with sweep of Lady Devils
    By Randy Hogan, Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, October 6, 2006

The District 2-3A volleyball season began Tuesday night, as the Monahans Lady Loboes placed their name atop the standing with a three set 25-10, 25-16, 25-6 pasting of Presidio at the Jerry Larned Sports Complex.

Monahans (32-3, 1-0) are looking for their fifth consecutive trip to San Marcos for the State volleyball finals and want to continue the momentum they have built with a strong non-district schedule, as the District 2-3A portion of their schedule awaits.

The Ladies took it to Presidio early in game one, quickly turning a 16-4 lead into a 25-10 route.

Game two presented the toughest challenge for MHS, as the Lady Devils stayed within reach most of the set.

However, Monahans broke the will of PHS following a time out leading by just six points at 17-11.

Kaitlin Mitchell served an ace after the timeout to push the score to 18-11.  Then Monahans used big hits from their front line to put the game out of reach.

Jordan Latham and Bailey Marcum recorded key kills to stretch the MHS lead to 10 points at 23-13, before Bethany Willmon slammed the door shut on the Lady Devils with the game's final two kills.

Monahans won the second set 25-16.

Needing to win only one game to send Presidio back home early, the Lady Loboes rolled off 8 consecutive points to start the final set.

Catherine Cutbirth scored the game's first point on a big swing for a kill.  Then Willmon blasted an ace to start the avalanche of points for the Green.

Cutbirth made the Lady Devils pay on an overset at the net, as she went high in the air and pounded the ball in to the Presidio side of the court to give MHS a 3-0 lead.

Cutbirth finished the Lady Lobo 8-point run with another kill and a block for Monahans, and Latham began to dominate Presidio with power kills.

In fact, the Lady Devils had trouble keeping Latham's return in play the remainder of the night as Latham pounded out point after point on PHS.

Marcum also had a big game at the net of Monahans, picking up key blocks and thundering kills against the Lady Devils.

Mitchell was once again outstanding for MHS, controlling the Lady Lobo attack with precision.

Perhaps one of the notable of her 32 assists came on a set to Latham to put the Green up 13-2.

On the play Mitchell passed the ball over to Latham, and an out-of-position Lady Devil defense could not recover in time to defend the play.

Cutbirth served an ace to extend the Green lead to 16-2, before the Lady Lobo hit parade concluded the game with big swings at the Lady Devils.

Mitchell found her rhythm and set the ball on the money at Marcum and Willmon late in the game, as the Lady Loboes put on a hitting exhibition in front of the home crowd.

Marcum planted the ball into the Lady Devil side of the court as Danira Renteria dove in a futile attempt to dig a power shot by the Monahans junior hitter.

Willmon and Cutbirth each added kills to their nightly total as Monahans pounded out a 25-6 victory in the final set to begin District 2-3A play with a win.

Monahans has won the last 7 matches without dropping a single set since September 16 match at Lubbock Coronado.

Bethany Willmon led the Lady Loboes with 13 kills on the night.  She also had 2 digs and 2 key aces in the match.

Bailey Marcum recorded 9 kills and had 3 big blocks against Presidio.  She also had 4 digs on the night.

Catherine Cutbirth and Jordan Latham each has 7 kills in the match.

Cutbirth also had 3 blocks and 5 digs, while Latham posted 1 block, 4 digs and 1 ace in the Presidio match.

Kaitlin Mitchell recorded 32 assist and accounted for 2 kills and 3 digs against the Lady Devils.

Kim Wilson had 1 assist and 1 dig, while Dina Ortiz picked up 3 digs on the night.

The Lady Loboes are back home Saturday to host Pecos (21-6, 1-0) in a key District 1-3A match at 1 pm.

The Eagles defeated Fort Stockton (14-20, 0-1) Tuesday 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22 to start district play.