Goodrich volleyball captured their first playoff win in a decade, sweeping High Island 25-23, 25-19 and 25-18 to become bi-district champions Thursday at Tarkington High School.
Goodrich scored eight points to separate themselves at 14-6, only to surrender that advantage and fall behind at 17-16. A tie game at 23, the Lady Hornets scored the final two points to secure the opener.
In the second set, it was High Island taking the large lead, and the Lady Hornets coming from behind. The Lady Cardinals led 14-7, but Goodrich went on an 11-1 run to go up for good.
Yet another run dominated the third set, as Goodrich came from behind 10-8 to pull in front 19-13 and finish off High Island’s season.
We've made the playoffs every year, but we haven't had a playoff win in about 10 years,” Goodrich head coach Ashlan Stafford said. “I've seen a lot of improvement. My freshman Tamia (Figgs) came out swinging tonight. I haven't seen that all season like that. Aaliyah (Wright) was blocking and tipping. Tiffany (Wright, a new starter,) transferred in from homeschool and she is a freshman. Tanyreauna Criswell played well on the back row for defense. I really can't ask much more than they did for me. We go through this roller coaster of emotions every single game.”
A big difference in the game and improvement over the season for the Lady Hornets has been serving. It has progressed from a weakness to a difference maker on the court.
“I think we got 10 or 11 points each game just off serving,” Stafford said. “We used to miss 10 or 11 serves each game. We are spending 10 minutes or 15 minutes every single day in practice just serving and getting it over. Those were free points that we were giving away.”
The coach said her team is having fun and working hard to improve, making playoff success a possibility.
“They are so close-knit and have been playing together for the past 10 years. I have almost every one of them in class every day and all together. It is fun, don't get me wrong, but there are times where I have to tell them that, ‘I am your coach, and we've got to do this.’ It is hard being a young coach, but they respect me, and I respect them. I feel like that is one of the biggest things. The respect goes both ways for them, and I don't think they've had that in the past.”
