The art of three hits-'Girls take a bite out of Palacios

Tuesday night the Cowgirls won in three quick games against the Palacios Sharkettes, 25-14, 25-8 and 25-13. Edna was on their game and the team was on point, earning points with tips, spikes and hard serves that had Palacios fans taken aback.

Head Coach Rachel Collins said her team has been putting in a lot of hard hours at the gym. "This win is what we needed," she said. "It's just about staying focused and playing our game and not worrying too much about what's going on around us. We finally have a full team with people back from their injuries so I feel like our momentum is going and we're starting to peak somewhat so we have to keep pushing." She added the 'Girls know no one they play is going to be easy, and every chance they get they have to better than the point before.

Haleigh Evans started the game with her serve and quickly, a block by Reagan Luedecke and Kadi Elledge earned the first point and a hard spike from Bailey Brown brought the second point. Sierra Pruitt came up with a dig and Brown added two more spikes that earned more points for the 'Girls, making the score 5-3 in favor of Edna. A dig from Evans and a perfect block by Crystal Coulter continued the success, making the score 7-5, Edna. 

Edging up in points only caused the Cowgirls to play harder and faster. A well-placed tip by Evans and Elledge added more points, and then spikes by Elledge and Brown continued the game, 16-7, Edna. Palacios was able to added some points themselves, but the 'Girls wouldn't let them get comfortable and continued playing a fast-paced game. Luedecke pulled a quick dig and Elledge gave another spike that made the fans cheer on.

A block, a tip and a spike by Coulter added more points, while spikes from Pruitt and Evans and a quick dig by Kim Ortolon brought the first match to a close, 25-14.

The second match was quicker than the first, with the Sharkettes only scoring eight points. Elledge, Coulter and Pruitt spiked hard balls before mistakes on the Palacios end kept racking up the points for the 'Girls, 12-5. Evans found holes on the opposing side and made some tips that brought more points, along with careful tips from Elledge, Pruitt and Brown.

The third game Elledge and Luedecke started the game with tight blocks, and Brown brought her spikes back that gave points to her team. Palacios was trying hard to keep the game tied for as long as they could, but Edna couldn't be held back. Evans with the tips, Ortolon with the serves and Brown with the spikes kept racking up the points, 16-11.

Elledge pulled some short serves that confused Palacios and caused them to miss some simple hits, and Brown pulled some serves and spikes that left Palacios looking for the ball. Just as Evans started the game making points with her serve, she ended the last match with a spike that earned the final point, 25-13.

"We really connected in this game and I felt everyone was working as a unit," said Elledge. "We didn't play individually." Elledge added that when she serves, she's just making sure the ball gets over the net. "We're going to be working on upping our game and working on everything. We need to perfect everything, nothing is perfect yet and we just need to keep working hard."

The Cowgirls will play in their fourth district game at home against the Industrial Cobras on Tuesday, Sept. 29.