Standing Taller
    Monahans Stays on Track by Derailing Odessa High
       By Chris Gove, Staff Writer ~ Odessa American, September 24, 2006

Monahans High School’s volleyball team appeared right on track Saturday afternoon to make a run at its ultimate goal.

Odessa High, the team on the other side of the net from the Lady Loboes, does not have long to get back in a similar state of mind.

Monahans beat Odessa High 25-21, 25-9, 25-11 in a nondistrict match in the OHS Fieldhouse that served dual purposes for the teams.

The Lady Loboes (28-3) were playing a Class 5A foe for the last time this season before delving into district action and beyond in less than two weeks.

Odessa High (16-9) had an open date after playing the first four matches in its District 3-5A schedule and had the opportunity to make a better showing than in a two-game loss to Monahans about a month ago in San Angelo.

“I scheduled this because I had quite a few returners and so I thought we needed the competition rather than being off,” OHS head coach Linda McMillan said.  “I thought my returners needed to say in that competitive flow.  I’m very disappointed because that is not what we came out here to do.”

Monahans looked quite capable of making a run at a fifth consecutive trip to the Class 3A UIL State Champion-ships.

Catherine Cutbirth had 13 kills and 14 digs for the Lady Loboes.  Jordan Latham had nine kills and eight digs.

Bailey Marcum had six kills and 11 digs, while Bethany Willmon had six kills and 10 digs during a strong defensive effort that allowed little to Odessa High, particularly in Games 2 and 3.

“We’re just looking to play people that are big and quick,” Monahans coach Patty Dominguez said.  “Odessa caught us on a quick back-set that burned us a couple of times, and that’s something we have to work on.  Right before district we wanted to finish polishing up a little bit and just gain a little more experience blocking-wise.”

Monahans was coming off a three-game sweep at Lubbock Coronado last week, so the high-quality victory was a quick sign of improvement.

“We feel like we’re doing pretty good,” Willmon said.  “The games we don’t communicate are the games we fall apart, so that’s our big game — we need to communicate and play good defense.  We played good (Saturday), really good.”

Odessa High got nine kills and 12 digs from Kylie Cowan and Meagan Saulsbury had four kills and eight digs.

The spark that was missing from the effort against Monahans will need to return for the Lady Bronchos since they play Tuesday at Abilene High and then play host to San Angelo Central on Sept. 30 in crucial District 3-5A matches.

“I knew we had the three strongest teams at the end (of the district schedule) so I felt like we needed to stay in competition,” McMillan said.  “We will get it fixed by Tuesday.”

San Angelo Central, by the way, has handed Monahans two of its three losses this season.