Lady Aggies fight back, edge Lady Buffs in five
If you wanted to speak with Cameron volleyball coach Kim Vinson after Saturday night's Lone Star Conference Championship, you had to wait: she was crying, posing for photographs and hugging friends and fans. And why not: The Lady Aggies are the 1998 Lone Star Conference volleyball champions.
Cameron came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat West Texas A&M at the Aggie gym, 14-16, 15-8, 15-17, 16-14 and 15-10. It was appropriate that this match go to sudden death. The Lady Aggies were this year's North Division Champion with a perfect 12-0 record. The Lady Buffs also went 12-0 on their way to the South Division championship. Vinson was named North Division Coach of the Year. The Buffs' Debbie hendricks took the South Division title.Cameron's outside hitter Sharlene Marschall was the Player of the Year from the South, West Texas' outside hitter Sarah Butler garnered that honor in the North.
And then there was this little twist to the story: The Lady Buffs were one of only two teams to beat Cameron during the regular season. They did it last month- in five games. This was not a championship match, it was a season. The Lady Aggies blew a big lead in the first game. Up 13-6, West Texas scored seven points in a row to even the score at 13. Another tie at 14 didn't last long, and before you knew it Cameron was on the bench wondering what had gone wrong.
"I just told them there was a lot of game left," Vinson said. After winning the second game 15-8, Cameron fell behind 11-6. But a run of five straight points evened the score at 11. It was tied again at 12, 14 and 15 before West Texas prevailed, 15-17. Perhaps the Lady Aggies easy 15-10 victory in the fifth and final game was fueled by the sigh of relief that followed the fourth game, which ended in Cameron's favor, 16-14, but could of easily left Vinson and her team crying for a different reason.
The Lady Aggies jumped out to an 11-2 lead only to see the Lady Buffs tie it at 14. Finally, on a crushing spike by Lora Spencer, Cameron had evened the match at 2-2 with a 16-14 victory. In the fifth game of a match, rules change. Teams are allowed to score whenever the ball hits the floor, regardless of which team is serving. On Saturday night, rally scoring worked out just fine for Cameron.
After falling behind 1-0, the lady Aggies jumped out in front and never looked back. They opened up a 10-4 lead before finishing it off, 15-10. "I think they played a heck of a game," Hendricks said. "They did a better job of executing their game plan than we did and handled the pressure better than we did. We have a little more experience than them, but we just didn't handle it."
Take Lady Aggie Hilary Baggett. The senior outside hitter and middle blocker has been a starter, but not a star. Not until Saturday, anyway. The senior had 21 kills and 15 digs to lead the Lady Aggies. She was as Vinson said, "Awesome."
"Well being a senior, this is it for me. It's your last time out there, you give it all you've got and have a good time," Baggett said. Thanks, in part, to her efforts, Cameron may see another day of play. The NCAA Division ll volleyball regionals begin next week. With the LSC title in hand, the Lady Aggies must now wait for a call. That should come today. But for now, Vinson and her team enjoy the moment.
"Our kids were game," Vinson said. "They just wanted to go on hard. They just couldn't be sweeter."
