Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

Rough Start is Part of Master Plan

Northwest Volleyball

By John English

Contributing Writer

The Northwest volleyball team finished 3-3 in its home tournament last weekend and has a sub-.500 record for the season heading into the Arlington tournament, but it is all part of coach Dayna Horak’s plan.

The Lady Texans lost to Arlington on Tuesday night in five games, an experience Horak said was great for her team.

"We lost, but it was an awesome match," Horak said. "We had some great plays and some long rallies, and in the end we were really working together well on the court.

"We had our chance to beat them in the fourth game, when we were up 21-17, but had some errors there at the end."

Sam Sanders finished the Arlington contest with 25 kills.

Horak said her objective for the Arlington tournament this weekend is to keep getting better.

"Of course we want to go in there and try to win a championship," Horak said. "But this is a good opportunity for us to build on our strengths. The defense is really picking up and helping out ... we’re just going to continue to focus on improving."

Horak said she was pleased with the way her home tournament unfolded and said she had good feedback from it as well.

"I think the tournament was another great success," Horak said. "We had very good teams come in from all over the state. It ran very smoothly, the coaches were pleased with the quality of teams we had and I think it turned out well.

"I think we finished eighth or ninth, but we did some good things. They are starting to really work together. I had several different lineups, and they did well."

Horak said Olivia Moody was probably the biggest standout in the Northwest tournament, and Brooke Alverson was selected to the all-tournament team.

Horak said there was a field of 32 teams and very good competition as well.

"Most of the teams that were there were playoff teams from last year," Horak said. "Some of them were at the state tournament. The quality of the teams just seems to get better and better every year."

Horak said she is not concerned about her team’s 6-9 record heading into the Arlington tournament this weekend because of the quality of competition Northwest has faced.

"We are playing an extremely hard schedule," Horak said. "It is just going to help us when district starts."