Memorial opens volleyball at home with a win

The defending 6A State Champions held their home opener on Tuesday night when they defeated the visiting Moore Lady Lions in straight sets behind a dominant front line of outside hitters. It was the Memorial Lady Bulldogs first time home after claiming the state championship in 2016 and they didn’t disappoint the home crowd. The Lady Bulldogs didn’t drop a single set against Moore as they defeated the Lady Lions behind three set wins that were scored 25-14, 25-19 and 26-24. Memorial jumped on the overmatched Lady Lions in their first set victory when Kat Mansfield got in a serving groove early in the frame. Mansfield recorded six consecutive points for the Lady Bulldogs, putting Moore on their back foot for the rest of the set. Natalie Murray, head coach for Edmond Memorial, said that Mansfield’s dominance helped control the tone early in the match. “It really does something for you when you’re serving it that hard,” Murray said. “It puts pressure on the other defenses and they can’t get into what they want to do offensively when you’re hitting the ball that hard.” Mansfield recorded two aces in her six-point-spree to help Memorial take an 11-point, first-set victory. The Lady Bulldogs kept up the tempo during their second set win, but this time they did most of the damage from their dangerous front line of hitters. Led in the set by Sophia Ayubi, Memorial was able to constantly punish a Moore front line that only featured one real threat. Ayubi, a six-foot sophomore, drug the Moore defense around the front of the net as she helped Memorial win the set 25-19 and stretch the Lady Bulldog lead to 2-0. After the first two dominating set victories, Memorial let off the gas and allowed Moore to play them closely in the third. Ayubi, who played the majority of the second set, started to lose some height on her kill attempts and the Lady Lions jumped out to an early lead as Memorial struggled to find early points. Memorial, however, was able to fall back on a familiar face from last year’s championship run. Junior Allie High was able to give the Lady Bulldogs the lift they needed late in the set, as she led Memorial back into the frame. High, who is listed at Outside Hitter, seemed to be jumping higher as the set went longer, leaving the Moore front line without any answers. High would help Memorial claim a 26-24 set win and claim the match. High is listed four inches shorter than anyone else on her front line, but Murray said that she shouldn’t be underestimated. “When you look at her against the other girls she looks undersized,” Murray said, “but she actually has the highest vertical on the team. She was a big part of last year’s state championship team when she played every position slot.” High’s heroics helped Memorial clean Moore in straight sets, but Moore’s early lead in the final frame raised questions about Memorial’s ability to cleanly finish outmatched squads. Murray, however, wasn’t having any of that. “You never want it to go to extra sets,” Murray said, “but it’s nice to be tested inside a set itself. You almost like the heat of the competition within sets like that.” The defending state champions, who improved to 2-0 after Tuesday’s win, will be forced to wait until next year for a true homecoming as they will be forced to play in different Edmond middle school gymnasiums while renovations are done on Memorial High School’s gym. Memorial will play in the Broken Arrow Varsity Tournament throughout Friday and Saturday, before their next season matchup against Stillwater. Stillwater, who just recently upset top-ranked Santa Fe, will be hosted at Cimarron Middle School on Aug. 29.

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Edmond Memorial High School Athletics

MEMORIAL OPENS VOLLEYBALL AT HOME WITH A WIN

AARON ALBERTSON

The Edmond Sun | 8/23/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Albertson