North Putnam moves to .500 with loss against Covenant Christian Knights

Bethany Wiatt

ROACHDALE -- The North Putnam volleyball team entered Thursday's home game against the Covenant Christian Knights vying for a shot to be 2-0. The prospect of that start might have been too much, as the Cougars seemed to not be all in it as they lost 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 15-25, 22-25).

The Cougars were behind in the first set 7-5 before they caught fire and went on a 19-6 run and eventually won 25-17.

In every set the Cougars were down and, in all except the first set, they couldn't crawl back to get the set win.

"I thought we played well a lot of times," new NPHS head coach Brandy Dickson said. "In sets two and three we made mistakes that we shouldn't have made."

In set four the Cougars were within three points the entire set.

The Cougars couldn't muster enough momentum and after taking the lead 22-21, they ended up losing the next four points and pushing their season record to 1-1.

There was a lot to be happy about on the night as senior Bethany Wiatt, junior Kaitlin Mindiola and sophomore Taylor Nauert all had big nights.

Wiatt led the Cougars with 10 digs and three aces, Nauert led the way with 15 kills and 12 blocks and Mindiola had 5 blocks, all coming at very critical points in the match.

Throughout the night the youth of the Cougars showed but other times the seniors led the way. During the dry spells players on the bench would yell encouraging things and get the active players back on their feet and focused.

"For as young as this team is, I think we are very mature. I mean several of my starters are sophomores. I think overall I have a very mature team," Dickson said.

The players believe that this could be their year as each member has one anothers back. Unity amongst players and coaches is key to a deep run into the postseason and the always tough county tournament.

"They genuinely care for each other when things are going good or bad and they treat each other nice no matter what is going on," Dickson said.

Watch out for the Cougars. They have all the ingredients necessary to make a deep run and this team knows they can do it.

At North Putnam
.....................................1.....2.....3.....4
Covenant Christian....17.....25.....25.....25
North Putnam...........25.....22.....17.....22