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Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
GCM comes roaring back, but too late
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun Published November 4, 2009 BEAUMONT — The little team that could almost did in Tuesday’s Class 4A bidistrict match.
After appearing outclassed by District 20-4A champion Little Cypress-Mauriceville in the first two games of the best-of-three contest, Goose Creek Memorial came roaring back.
The Patriots won the third game and ran off nine straight points in the fourth game to make every one of the 250 people packed into tiny McDonald Gym believe the Memorial girls could pull off the unthinkable.
Problem was they were down 18-5 before they went on their Game 4 roll and it was not enough to stave off a four-game, 25-10, 25-13, 22-25, 25-16 loss.
“We always do that,” Ariel Reitmeier, the only senior for GCM, said. “We wait until they get so far ahead of us. We step it up and it’s too late.
“But we had an awesome season and that’s all that matters.”
The Patriots, fourth-place finishers in District 19-4A in only the school’s second year of competition, finished the year with a record of 16-20. They pulled it together in district to win eight of their 14 games.
“I was real proud of them,” Memorial coach Misti Clark said. “They got down two games and came back fighting. That’s one thing I preached all year: ‘If you go down, go down fighting.’”
The 5-foot-10 Reitmeier finished with 14 kills to lead GCM and she dominated Games 3 and 4, stealing the thunder from LC-M’s big hitter, 6-foot senior Christine Sicktich, who finished with 18 kills.
Junior Summer Hall had 20 digs to lead the Patriot backcourt and sophomore Ceannia Kincade and Reitmeier defended strong up front, getting seven and six blocks, respectively. Sophomore setter Erika Hernandez logged 13 assists.
The Patriots ran out to a 9-3 lead at the start of Game 3 with Reitmeier scoring five of the points, Kincade one on a kill and junior Kara Hanchey one on a service ace.
Blocks for winners by Kincade and sophomore Tyra Thomas gave GCM an 11-4 lead before LC-M closed to within 12-10. A winner by freshman Faith Drews and a block and a kill by Reitmeier made it 15-10 Patriots, who maintained the five-point lead until LC-M battled back to trail by one at 19-18.
GCM led 22-21 before Kincade scored a couple of kills for a 24-22 edge and game point came on a Bear miscue.
In Game 4, LC-M led 10-4 before mounting an eight-point run of its own to lead 18-4. That’s when Kincade scored a sideout with a kill and then served eight straight points.
An LC-M timeout served to cool the Patriots and put new life in the Bears, who twice scored three in a row in running out the match, with senior Elissa Tate getting one ace and junior Allison Walker two.
A 1-1 tie was as good as it got for GCM in Game 1 as the Patriots fell quickly behind 7-1 and were guilty of 15 point-deciding hitting and ball-handling errors.
Built specifically for volleyball, Lamar University’s recently redone McDonald’s Gym features only five rows of bleachers on each side of the court with fans sitting closer to the action than in a regular basketball gym.
It appeared as if the GCM players found the court smaller, too, since most of their hitting mistakes came on balls hit beyond the boundaries.
“We were nervous at the beginning,” Reitmeier confided.
GCM had a 1-0 lead in Game 2 on an opening ace by Reitmeier but the game’s second point went to LC-M on a long hit by the Patriots and the Bears proceeded to run to an 8-1 advantage with Sicktich doing most of the damage.
In all, GCM had 41 point-deciding errors to 24 by LC-M.
The Baytown Sun Published November 4, 2009 BEAUMONT — The little team that could almost did in Tuesday’s Class 4A bidistrict match.
After appearing outclassed by District 20-4A champion Little Cypress-Mauriceville in the first two games of the best-of-three contest, Goose Creek Memorial came roaring back.
The Patriots won the third game and ran off nine straight points in the fourth game to make every one of the 250 people packed into tiny McDonald Gym believe the Memorial girls could pull off the unthinkable.
Problem was they were down 18-5 before they went on their Game 4 roll and it was not enough to stave off a four-game, 25-10, 25-13, 22-25, 25-16 loss.
“We always do that,” Ariel Reitmeier, the only senior for GCM, said. “We wait until they get so far ahead of us. We step it up and it’s too late.
“But we had an awesome season and that’s all that matters.”
The Patriots, fourth-place finishers in District 19-4A in only the school’s second year of competition, finished the year with a record of 16-20. They pulled it together in district to win eight of their 14 games.
“I was real proud of them,” Memorial coach Misti Clark said. “They got down two games and came back fighting. That’s one thing I preached all year: ‘If you go down, go down fighting.’”
The 5-foot-10 Reitmeier finished with 14 kills to lead GCM and she dominated Games 3 and 4, stealing the thunder from LC-M’s big hitter, 6-foot senior Christine Sicktich, who finished with 18 kills.
Junior Summer Hall had 20 digs to lead the Patriot backcourt and sophomore Ceannia Kincade and Reitmeier defended strong up front, getting seven and six blocks, respectively. Sophomore setter Erika Hernandez logged 13 assists.
The Patriots ran out to a 9-3 lead at the start of Game 3 with Reitmeier scoring five of the points, Kincade one on a kill and junior Kara Hanchey one on a service ace.
Blocks for winners by Kincade and sophomore Tyra Thomas gave GCM an 11-4 lead before LC-M closed to within 12-10. A winner by freshman Faith Drews and a block and a kill by Reitmeier made it 15-10 Patriots, who maintained the five-point lead until LC-M battled back to trail by one at 19-18.
GCM led 22-21 before Kincade scored a couple of kills for a 24-22 edge and game point came on a Bear miscue.
In Game 4, LC-M led 10-4 before mounting an eight-point run of its own to lead 18-4. That’s when Kincade scored a sideout with a kill and then served eight straight points.
An LC-M timeout served to cool the Patriots and put new life in the Bears, who twice scored three in a row in running out the match, with senior Elissa Tate getting one ace and junior Allison Walker two.
A 1-1 tie was as good as it got for GCM in Game 1 as the Patriots fell quickly behind 7-1 and were guilty of 15 point-deciding hitting and ball-handling errors.
Built specifically for volleyball, Lamar University’s recently redone McDonald’s Gym features only five rows of bleachers on each side of the court with fans sitting closer to the action than in a regular basketball gym.
It appeared as if the GCM players found the court smaller, too, since most of their hitting mistakes came on balls hit beyond the boundaries.
“We were nervous at the beginning,” Reitmeier confided.
GCM had a 1-0 lead in Game 2 on an opening ace by Reitmeier but the game’s second point went to LC-M on a long hit by the Patriots and the Bears proceeded to run to an 8-1 advantage with Sicktich doing most of the damage.
In all, GCM had 41 point-deciding errors to 24 by LC-M.