Lady Tigers sweep tri-match over Hale County, Jackson

The Demopolis Lady Tigers (2-2) exploded into the win column Tuesday evening with a tri-match sweep of visiting Hale County and Jackson.

Demopolis, which downed Hale County 2-0, looked dominant during stretches of its opening match. The Lady Tigers took game one 25-18 before pulling out game two 25-16.

While the first game was scarcely in question, Demopolis trailed 12-9 in the early portion of game two before coach Blythe Smith called a timeout.

“I called a timeout to give them a minute to catch their breath. With the small number of girls we have, sometimes we have to use a timeout for that,” Smith said. “I told them that we have to back up our blocker better. They were able to move to the ball and get the serve back.”

Demopolis surged from behind on the strength of serves from sophomores Brianna Pruitt and Ivery Moore, each of whom mixed in multiple aces while fueling a comeback effort that also benefited from strong floor play by DHS.

“After practice yesterday, we made it our goal to get five points off of every person that serves. Usually our saying is ‘One at a time. One at a time.’ And that is still true, but we had to focus on consistency,” Smith said.

After watching Hale County beat Jackson 2-1, Demopolis dispatched of the visiting Lady Aggies in straight games, 25-14 and 25-22.

“I’m really proud of this team,” Smith said. “They really hustle. They make their mistakes, but they really hustle. All of our girls did really well, but the MVP of the Jackson match is Jacqueline Banks. She was the most consistent on her serves and she really went after every ball on the back row.”

The wins marked a drastic improvement over last week’s season-opening tri-match in which the Lady Tigers dropped all four of their games in two matches against Thomasville and Dallas County.

“These girls see where they need improvement and they make sure I know it,” Smith said. “They see where they are struggling and they really want to improve it.”

The Lady Tigers open area play Thursday when they host Sumter-Central at 5 p.m.