CRESTVIEW — Better day will likely come for the Crestview High School volleyball team. But a week into the 2014 the Bulldogs are struggling.
Crestview fell to 1-2 on the season Thursday night with a four set loss to Walton. The Braves won by scores of 25-20, 20-25, 28-26, 25-17.
Bulldog Coach Kathy Combest was frustrated with the loss.
“We are a young team,” she said. “We lost six seniors, but we need to play better. We need to make better decisions.
“I thought our decision making skills were better than that. They (Walton) picked up a lot of balls. They are the experienced team and we are not, but we are going to get there.”
Powered by the play of Ashley Harper and Deja Tucker the Braves seemed to take control of the first set with with a 5-1 run to break an 8-8 tie.
Walton was up 15-11 when a Cailey Ness block sparked Crestview and the Bulldogs went on to tie the set a 15-15.
But the Braves scored the next four points and were never threatened again in the seet.
Crestview came to life in the second set behind the play of Marisa Rogers and Nichole LeFerve.
Kierra Potts, who led Crestview with five kills, also came up big in the second set.
The third set went back and forth. The Bulldogs led 20-16 following a Ness kill, but were unable to hold off the fast charging Braves.
Walton continued to press the issue in the fourth set taking the lead at 3-2 and never looking back to finish off the win.
EmailNews Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Walton upends Crestview in volleyball