Heritage hangs tough early in loss to FHS

— Fayetteville andRogers Heritage both needed reminders on the importance of mental toughness in volleyball.

The Lady Bulldogs got the message early and ran away with a7A-West Conference sweep at War Eagle Arena on Tuesday.

The 25-15, 25-20, 25-7 winkept the Lady Bulldogs tied atop the league standings.

The Lady War Eagles (5-18, 0-8) hung tough for the first twogames - even giving Fayetteville a backand-forth battle in Game 2 - before falling apart after junior hitter Kylee Linn was injured in the final game.

Linn, who led Heritage withseven kills, briefly left the court after injuring a thumb midway through Game 3 and the Lady War Eagles panicked. The Lady Bulldogs (12-8-1, 7-1) ended the game on a 15-1 run - including two aces from senior Danielle Wert and three from senior Sarah Pfitzinger.

"I think we let some circumstances get into our heads," Heritage coach Sarah Miser said. "We had one of our key players get hurt (and) I think after that we just kind of lost it. We have to be more mentally tough and bounce back."

Until that point, the young Lady War Eagles had played solid against Fayetteville.

"I'm happy the way they played against Fayetteville," Miser said. "Fayetteville's a top-notch team. I expect to see them in the finals of state, honestly.

"We were right neckand-neck with them the first two games."

Heritage sophomore Rachel Madryga tied Game 1 at 9-1 with an ace before Fayetteville rattled off a 7-1 run, which had aces from Pfitzinger and Morgan Cosby and two kills byHaley Martin.

Martin and Cosby led Fayetteville with 11 kills each.

Heritage got back within 19-15 but Fayetteville finished the game with five straight points and a gameending ace by Ashleigh Price.

Heritage played Fayetteville even most of Game 2, taking advantage of several Lady Bulldog hitting errors.

Heritage's Mary Carter and Linn each had winners for brief leads and the Lady War Eagles battled back late, forcing Fayetteville coach Jessica Phelan to call a timeout.

"I had to get after them a little bit," she said after the match. "There's certain things in volleyball you just have to control. You have to control how well you communicate and how hard you play. And we just needed a little reminder on those things."

Linn's ace on the next serve tied the game at 18 but the Lady War Eagles couldn't keep up. They got within 21-20 late but Cosby had three of the last four points to finish the game.

"I thought Morgan (Cosby) had a great night for us," Phelan said. "She was a real difference there in Game 2. Heritage did a good job of making us earn every point. I thought she made a real difference : of putting it away at the end."

News, Pages 9, 10 on 09/30/2009

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