By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
They had just lost the first two sets by a combined margin of 50-23. Their offense had generated just five of those points in those two sets.
While the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers volleyball team went on to lose the third set to the visiting Clarke County Thursday, they sent an important mssage in the 25-13, 25-10, 25-19 loss.
"Earlier in the season we probably would have called it a day after we lost the first two sets like we did, but we continued to compete hard in the third set," T.R. Miller coach Sharon Peacock said.
Thursday's regular season finale was a preview of what figures to be the Lady Tigers toughest obstacle at Monday's Class 3A Area 1 Tournament, which will be played at Clarke County.
One of T.R. Miller's biggest problems Thursday was its inability to generate points on the offensive side.
"We had some points on defense, but our offense only scored only four points in the first set and just two in the second set. We did a little better in the third set (seven). That's better although that's still not a lot," Peacock said.
The Lady Tigers (6-13) were able to hang close for a while in the opener. Shandreka Foster had a couple of kills for points and her service point had T.R. Miller within 10-8.
Things quickly went downhill after that when Clarke County went on an 11-1 run and extended its lead to 21-9 en route to the set victory.
In set two, two points by Emily Layton at the beginning of the set gave the Lady Tigers a brief 2-1 edge. Yet those were the only offensive points T.R. Miller scored the entire set. Clarke County's strong service game produced six aces, as it finished the set on a 24-8 run.
T.R. Miller was nearly able to match the Lady Bulldogs blow for blow in the third set.
Krehbiel had five of her six third set kills in the first half when T.R. Miller took a 12-11 lead. Krehbiel also had couple of big serves, one of them an ace, that tied the finale at 16-16.
Those turned out to be the last offensive points for the Lady Tigers, who had just four defensive points the rest of the way.