Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
DORA — The Dora Lady Coyotes started their District 3-1A playoff match slow. But they sure finished it quick.
D’Shawn Pettigrew had three of her match-high seven kills in the final stretch of the third game, and Dora recovered from a slow start to sweep Floyd 25-19, 25-17, 25-19 in a first-round playoff match Tuesday at Guy Luscombe Gymnasium.
Dora will play at Melrose in a 7 p.m. match today, with the winner advancing to Thursday’s semifinal at second-ranked Fort Sumner. The 3-1A championship is Saturday night in Elida.
Floyd (7-12) jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the first game, with Noel Carpenter and Cindy Andrade sharing the offensive duties for the Lady Broncos. But Dora went on a 6-1 run and took control.
“When you get to this point of the season, anything can happen, especially in volleyball,” Dora coach Myra Skinner said. “You deal with momentum, and it can change so quickly.”
Floyd took leads in each of the next two games as well, but saw them disappear behind their own hitting errors. The Lady Coyotes benefited from 13 serve errors on Floyd’s part.
“I think it came down to fundamental things,” Floyd coach Sean Wootton said. “I think they did a good job of executing fundamental plays. We had a few times when we stubbed our toes, and it hurt our chances.”
Floyd will return their entire roster except for Andrade, and Wootton believes the Lady Broncos have a good “foundation for the future” with a junior high squad that finished 11-6.
With Floyd’s offense stalled due to serve-receive errors, Dora quickly put the final two games away behind the hitting of Pettigrew, Kassandra Clark and Jena Bilberry.
“It just took us a while to get going,” Skinner said. “We didn’t pass the ball well early in the match, and when we don’t pass the ball well we don’t play well.”