McPHERSON, Kan.—
McPherson didn’t care that Rose Hill is the third-ranked team in 4A. Not out of disrespect, but because the Lady Bullpups treat every team like it’s the third-ranked team in 4A. Second-ranked McPherson dug its heels in and came away with the 25-16, 27-25 win Tuesday night in McPherson.The first set of this match was back-and-forth for much of the time, but McPherson was able to come away with a huge first set win. The Lady Bullpups won all the right points at all the right times.
McPherson Head Coach Christy Doile explained that her team doesn’t think about the rankings of other teams or where other teams are currently with their development. Her team doesn’t concern itself with such matters.
Instead, it focuses on the quality of the opponent and plays its game regardless.
“We know that Rose Hill is a good team,” said Doile. “If you’re going to be a good team, you have to beat them. We try not to think of it in terms of rankings because it puts too much pressure on the team.”
She said if her team does think in terms of one match is bigger than the others, nerves come into play and it doesn’t perform as well.
“For us, we look at it as another good game and we’ll see where we’re at,” said Doile. “Then we’ll see how we match up and try to put our game plan in.”
The second set of the match is when things got dicey for both teams. It started off in favor of McPherson, as the squad picked up right where it left off from the first set. However, there was no way Rose Hill was going to take it lying down.
Rose Hill clawed its way back with several good serves that led to points in its favor. The match was tied at 24 and McPherson won the point to go up 25-24. The Lady Rockets won the next point to tie the set again at 25.
McPherson won the next two points to take the set and match. The match point, however, came on a mistake by Rose Hill’s Kylie Pfaff. She was called for touching the net, which awarded the point to McPherson.
“Honestly, it’s unfortunate they called that last point at the net,” said Doile. “I don’t know if she was in the net or not. Obviously she was, I guess. That was a tough break.”
Regardless of tough breaks, McPherson was able to come away with a huge win over one of the best teams in the state.
In the second match of the night, Rose Hill defeated Andale 25-20 & 25-19, before McPherson defeated the Indians 25-9 & 25-10.
