The sluggish play from Beachwood’s 3-0 loss to Cuyahoga Heights on Tuesday carried over into Wednesday’s non-conference game against Western Reserve Academy
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| Shaneice James had 10 kills |
The Bison shook off the slow start to win the match, 3-1.
“We kind of started off like we ended (on Tuesday),” said Beachwood coach Sarah Schoenhagen. “They were just slow and weren’t talking to each other. They were getting frustrated and there was no communication. They were working hard but they weren’t playing smart. They got it together.”
The Bison, who improved to 4-2 overall, won the first set 25-22 then dropped the second, 23-25.
Schoenhagen and her staff switched from a 5-1 to a 6-2 formation to get more players into the game.
“We mixed up some of the rotations and subbed a couple more players in,” Schoenhagen said. “Everyone got lots of playing time.”
Beachwood switched back to the 5-1 for the final two sets and cruised to 25-12 and 25-14 wins to close out the match.
“With our energy being down, we weren’t as effective as we’d hoped we would be,” Schoenhagen said.
Three Bison players reached double figures in kills. Valisha Watkins led the way with 19, Allonda Watkins had 11 and Shaneice James contributed with 10.
After coaching up her setters, Schoenhagen was pleased with the performance of her middle hitters.
“Our setting has been inconsistent,” Schoenhagen said. “The middles with Allonda and Shaneice—Allonda only got two attempts against Cuyahoga Heights. That’s just not getting set a lot. I told the setters the middles needed more sets.”
Getting the ball into the middle will help open up Beachwood’s attack.
“That will help us tremendously,” Schoenhagen said. “We have strong outside hitters and a strong right side hitter. That will open it up for us. I don’t think our opponents respect our middles yet because we haven’t set the middles as much.”
Allonda Watkins led the team with 14 digs and James posted a team-high nine blocks. Monica Colmenares led the Bison with 22 assists and Jaelyn Pounds pitched in with 16.
