Covington showed maturity and a killer instinct in a hard-fought victory over Russia.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 –COVINGTON
If one sequence in Monday's match with Russia displayed how much the Covington Lady Buccs have matured over the past year, it came with the score tied at 24-24 in the third game.

Covington had taken a 2 games to 0 lead, but Russia had battled them point-for-point in an attempt to send the contest into a fourth game.

Tied 24-24 senior setter Meredith Tobias caught the Russia defense off guard by attacking the second hit for a kill to give Covington match-point. Tobias then served game-point for a 26-24 win and 3 games to 0 victory.

"That (Tobias' attack) shows senior leadership and confidence," said a delighted Covington coach Stephanie Robinson. "We could have easily went to a fourth game, but the girls showed the killer instinct I've always knew they had. Now they now how to bring it out of themselves."

Tobias felt she was just doing her job.

"I saw the opportunity to catch them off guard, so I took it," said Tobias. "It wasn't all me. Everyone played with emotion and played our game."

Covington jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead in the first game behind pin-point serves, which kept Russia from getting into its own offense.

Russia struggled with its own serves with five errors, which benefitted Covington in route to a 25-16 win.

"We served very well tonight," Robinson said. "It kept them off balance and gave us numerous free balls."

Russia's struggles with serving and serve receive continued in the second game, while Covington's hitters took control of the match.

Alex Christian, Michelle Barhorst, Alyssa Angle, LauriKate Baymen and Holly Tobias each contributed with powerful kills to maintain the momentum and spark a 25-19 win.

"We were aggressive hitting the ball," said Robinson. "Al (Alex Christian), Michelle and LauriKate did a very good job placing their attacks. Even when we tipped the ball it was perfect placement in the ideal situations. The girls knew where the holes where and placed the ball where it needed to be."

Down 2 games to 0, Russia wouldn't go down without a fight. The Lady Raiders jumped out to a 3-0 lead forcing Covington to take a timeout to regroup.

"They (Russia) are a very dangerous and well coached team," complemented Robinson. "I wasn't going to let the girls get complacent. We had to refocus and get back to playing our game."

Covington did refocus, eventually closing the gap. The game was back and forth through until Tobias closed out the match with her attack and serve on game-point to give Covington a 3 games to 0 win.

Although improving to 5-0 on the season, Robinson was more pleased with the effort and emotion of her team displayed.

"We finally put an entire match together," said Robinson. "We made some mistakes, but we never let our mistakes get the best of us. Our seniors stepped up tonight and played the way they are capable of."

Tobias agreed.

"This is the best we've played so far this year," Tobias said. "We (the seniors) have been playing together for a long time and we just want to make something out of our senior year."

However, there's no room for celebration as Covington travels to Twin Valley South Tuesday for a contest with crucial conference implications.

"This is a very nice win, but we have to come back tomorrow and play even better," concluded Robinson. "They (Twin Valley South) put one on us last year and were conference champions. We can't go in there thinking we are all that because of tonight. We have to play with the same passion and emotion in order to come out of there with a win."

JV RESULTS:
Russia defeated Covington 2 games to 0 by the scores of 25-15 and 25-16.