Patriots beat Miss. College after two devastating losses

Patriots volleyball started conference play this week at home experiencing the agony of defeat, but ended with a taste of victory.

The Patriots couldn’t even win one game against two of the toughest teams in the American Southwest Conference East Division, but they redeemed themselves Saturday with a 3-1 win over Mississippi College.

The week’s losses came Tuesday night against The University of Texas at Dallas, ranked No. 2 in the division, and again Friday night to the No. 1 ranked East Texas Baptist University.

After a bumpy first game, the Patriots battled for the upper hand against the Lady Choctaws to earn their first conference win. With a 1-2 record (7-5 overall), the Patriots now rank third in the division. Senior Megan McCarty said the Patriots were determined not to lose a third game in a row.

“We know these teams are beatable so we lit some fires.  We’re still learning [about] each other, but we’re just getting started,” McCarty said after Saturday’s win.

Patriots Coach Kristee Phelps said she noticed her team hesitating in the first game against the Lady Choctaws.

“I told them, ‘If you see something, go for it.  Take a chance and hit the ball out of bounds.  It’s just one point,’” she said.

“Earn it back” and “fix it” are two phrases the Patriots heard often from Phelps.  She said she encouraged the players to take each point as a “small challenge” rather than worry about the game “in bulk.”

At the beginning of the week, Phelps said she hoped the fun of playing before a home crowd would not turn into nervousness.

All nerves aside, the Patriots stepped on the court with a mission to beat Mississippi College. It just wasn’t that easy the first game. Although off to a great start, the turning point came after the Lady Choctaws managed to tie the score at 12. They then ran off seven straight points before the Patriots regained control.

However, it wasn’t enough and Mississippi gained the advantage at 25-23.

The second game proved to be a battle of the wills with the lead changing six times and the teams fighting at least five game point plays. The Patriots finally gained control with a 30-28 win. That gave the Patriots much needed confidence to soar past the Lady Choctaws, 25-16 and 25-13 in the last two games of the match.

Phelps said the team meeting after Friday night’s loss helped the players put things in perspective. “They know how to win, they just have to remember what it’s like,” she said.

“It’s nice to see that [losing] hurts and frustrates them – that means they want to get better,” she said. Lady Choctaw Coach Peter Cosmiano said he warned his players the Patriots would be “hungry for a win” after losing the week’s previous games.

“I think Tyler caught on fire.  They stepped up, fought hard and we just didn’t counter,” he said.

Fighting No. 1 and No. 2

On Tuesday night the Patriots struggled to even keep pace with the Comets, but managed a respectable 25-21 loss. But the Comets took note of the Patriots’ weaknesses and killed the second and third games, 25-18 and 25-15.

“UT Tyler exceeded our expectations,” Coach Marci Sanders said.  “They definitely stepped up their game from last year, but I felt they made mistakes, allowing us to pick up and take the wins.”

On Friday night, long-time rival ETBU swept the first two games, 25-14 and 25-15 and gave the Patriots a 22-16 lead in the third game before tightening their game and racking up seven straight points. With that momentum, ETBU finished off the Patriots 25-22.

“We took the first two games for granted a little, expected an easy win,” Lady Tiger Coach Lyndsay Mashe, “they’re a great, hustling team and came out ready to go.”

Phelps said playing the top two teams in the division proved to be a mental and physical struggle — a point she made to her players after Friday’s match.

“We discussed [how] they have to start believing in themselves – it’s not just about physical effort,” she said.

Dawn Williams Contributed to this story