March 28, 2024

Colfax-Mingo experiences first fifth-set loss

COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo played its first five-set match of the season Tuesday night.

The result was disappointingly familiar.

After roaring back from a two-set deficit, the Tigerhawks struggled to muster an offensive attack when it mattered most against Melcher-Dallas, leading to a 25-20, 25-17, 14-25, 14-25, 15-7 loss.

“The fifth game was the same as the first two sets. It’s just errors,” Colfax-Mingo head coach Michelle Grant said. “Those first two sets were rough, then we did it right, and then we went back to rough.”

Melcher-Dallas started the fifth set with serve and quickly took control before Colfax-Mingo had a chance to respond. The Saints built a 4-0 lead before Colfax-Mingo called time out, and then Melcher-Dallas’ lead increased to 10-1.

Of the first 10 points Melcher-Dallas scored in the fifth set, six came by virtue of Colfax-Mingo hitting or service errors.

“This is just a frustrating one to let go, especially the way we let it go. We ended on an error,” Grant said. “They went on that big run; I think we had errors on almost all of their points.”

A big momentum swing halfway through the match forced the fifth set.

Melcher-Dallas cruised to wins in the first two sets thanks to big runs. With the teams tied at 15 in the second set, the Saints rattled off seven unanswered points en route to taking what seemed at the time like a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

Colfax-Mingo’s play improved significantly in the third and fourth sets, highlighted by strong serves off the right hand of Ries Wilson. With the score tied at 4 in the fourth set, Wilson recorded three aces during a run that ended with the Tigerhawks up 12-4.

“I knew I had to get the points for my team because if I didn’t, then who knows how it could go,” Wilson said. “We have to take the serves we can and I just knew I had to fulfill my position.”

Part of what unwound Colfax-Mingo (3-16) Tuesday night is a tendency Grant said she’s noticed before. The Tigerhawks struggled to rebound after Melchar-Dallas’ runs in the first, second and fifth sets, and have experienced similar woes in practice.

“We’ll be in the middle of a drill and we’re going to get to x amount of passes or serves, and we hit a rut where we just don’t get any good passes (and) the number doesn’t go up. And we do it in games where all of a sudden we can’t get the point back. We get stuck and all of a sudden they get six or seven in a row.

“We can’t get the excitement back. Nobody will step up and make a play. Everybody is looking at the next girl to make the play.”

Grant attributed part of that to an inexperienced and young team that routinely had four or five underclassmen on the floor against Melcher-Dallas.

“Every set it feels like (the opponent) gets an eight point run and we come back a little bit, but we can’t come all the way back,” Grant said. “We just have to get them out of those runs. They can’t get in that run where we get down on ourself and we start looking at everybody else like, ‘I don’t want to do it. Do you want to do it?’ That’s where we’re at right now. They can’t have those runs anymore.”