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VB--High Point Christian Cruises by Village Christian

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Jun 1, 2001
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High Point Christian Cruises by Village Christian


BY MICHAEL LINDSAY

ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER



HIGH POINT — High Point Christian has needed to adjust in recent matches. But, so far, it is handling it

just fine. The Cougars, who’ve moved Hadley Coats into a more prominent role to accommodate an injury to

starting setter Dakota Truhe, built sizable leads early in each set and rolled past Village Christian 25-15, 25-10,

25-11 in nonconference volleyball Tuesday at HPCA.


“Most of these girls have been playing together since middle school,” HPCA coach Bridget Knower said. “They’ve played with Hadley, so it’s not so much of an adjustment for them. We do have a couple players who haven’t played with her, because she’s younger. But they have adjusted well.


“Hadley’s a fighter, and we want people on the court who want to win. And she’s certainly one of those. So, they have done really well with that. And Sydney Rowan is such a big part of our offense and defense and brings power, stability and consistency to our team. She is also a great encourager to her teammates.”


Rowan had 14 kills to lead the Cougars (18-3), who’ve been without Truhe, a junior, for the last eight matches due to a nagging shoulder injury. Claire Cole added nine digs, while Hayden Hamlett had eight. Coats, a sophomore who previously played setter but now normally plays along the back line, tallied 26 assists and six aces in filling in admirably for Truhe, who will have her injury further examined in the coming days.


“I’m really proud of how we’re doing,” said Rowan, a senior Charlotte commit who recently surpassed 1,500 kills for her career. “Hadley’s done anawesome job stepping up and playing setter. She hadn’t practiced that in a while, but she’s doing really well. I think we’re in a good spot.


“We need to stay in shape during conference play,” she said, explaining what the team needs to do to compete

among the state’s top teams, “because our conference isn’t as tough as some others. So, just stay in shape, win the matches that we should, and hopefully come out with one of the higher seeds.”


HPCA scored the fi rst fi ve points of the first set, stretched its lead to 11 and finished off the win to take the early

lead. In the second set, it jumped ahead 7-0, then scored nine straight late to lead by 15 and moved ahead 2-0 in the match. The Cougars scored 12 straight points early in the third set to lead by 11, extended its lead to 15 before closing out the three-set victory. They next play Tuesday at home against the GCA Stallions before facing the bulk of their PACIS 3A schedule starting Sept. 29 against Forsyth Country Day.


“We talked about it today, how we want everything we do to grow us for where we want to be in October,” Knower said. “There are a couple tough teams at the top of the 3A, and we believe that we can beat them. Butwe have to play really well. So, we want every match, every practice to point toward that. And that’s where we’re headed.”
 
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