EAST Jackson (0-11) continues to search for that elusive first win.
The team dropped a pair of matches Thursday at home, then came up empty in five matches at Jefferson’s play date Saturday.
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In Thursday’s action, the Eagles fell to Hart County 25-17, 25-3 and Tallulah Falls in narrow fashion, 27-25, 25-23.
“(Thursday) was like watching Jekyll and Hyde,” coach Tim Thomas said. “Against Hart we kept passing really bad, just as we had in our four previous matches. It’s been really frustrating to see that happen, because we know this group is capable of passing really well - they just haven’t been doing it. And it looked just awful in that second set against Hart.”
Thomas saw marked improvement against Tallulah Falls, even though the Eagles were edged to in a pair of close games.
“Against Tallulah we passed incredibly well, and that helped light a big fire in our girls,” he said. “Our setters really stepped it up a notch too. We’ve been having a hard time hitting the ball up to now because we just haven’t been able to pass and set for those hitters. Against Tallulah we passed really, really well and those setters did a great job for our hitters. This was a thrilling match to watch, we just came out on the low end of it.”
Statistical leaders on the night were Bree Melendez (nine assists), Angela Hulsey (11 service points, four aces, five assists), Madison Mealor (seven kills) and Rosie Melendez (six kills).
In junior varsity action, East Jackson beat Tallulah Falls in two close sets.
On Saturday, East Jackson dropped five more matches, falling to Tallulah Falls (23-25, 25-16, 9-15), Apalachee (25-15, 25-15), Athens Christian (22-25, 27-25, 8-15), Grayson (25-13, 25-19) and Jefferson (25-16, 25-12).
Mealor led the team Saturday with 30 service points, 24 kills and 12 aces. Bree Melendez finished with 15 assists. Hulsey provided 26 service points, eight aces and 12 assists.
“We came into Saturday thinking things were starting to turn for us,” Thomas said. “We’d played well against Tallulah on Thursday night and did so again Saturday morning. But then we fell flat later in the day against two teams we should have beaten. When we’re up 16-6 in a match where we’re clearly the better team, we can’t just quit playing and think everything is going to work out.”
Thomas said the team “checked out” after that point.
“We knew this team would be inexperienced, but even so to be winless at this point is just inexcusable,” Thomas said. “We’re going to take the first part of this week and do a little soul-searching and hopefully we can come back strong on Thursday at home.”
