Beckville Overcomes Slow Start to Defeat New Diana

BECKVILLE – Beckville found itself in unfamiliar territory.

For the first time all season, the Ladycats trailed in a match. They lost the first set to New Diana on Tuesday.

Coach Cherry Downs said it was likely a matter of getting back into a routine. Beckville didn’t practice Friday because of homecoming, meaning it went three days without practicing.

It didn’t take long to find what was missing.

The Ladycats won the final three sets by scores of 25-14, 25-19 and 25-15 to secure the win and remain undefeated.

“Our team has a lot of heart, which pushes them and drives them to the success they’ve had,” she said. “That was imminent in the way they finished the game tonight.”

The final three wins didn’t come easy, though. New Diana (19-11, 1-2 district) countered Ladycat runs with some of its own, especially in the third and fourth sets. But Beckville (26-0, 3-0 district) found what it needed in the final moments to go on a 10-3 run to close out the match.

“They did a good job of rallying,” Downs said. “They dug up a lot of balls and played good defense. They really made us work to earn our points.”

As usual, the duo of Riley Seegers and Hannah Humphries led Beckville. Seegers had 11 kills to go with a team-high five blocks and Humphries led the team with 12 kills.

Downs said even in a win, she had some words of encouragement for her team after the game.

“It was evident that we started out not playing our game,” she said. “We were a little slow on defense on communication errors hurt us. Those are things we’re gonna have to overcome.

“Any time we step into the gym and know we’re fixing to play a 6A or 5A school, they’re ready to compete. We’ve got to find that level of momentum no matter the level of competition when we step in there.”

Beckville is back at it on Friday when it travels to Ore City for a 4:30 p.m. matchup.