By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Covington’s Treasuary Poindexter, right, makes a block for a point last week in Munford.
The last time the Munford Lady Cougars took the court without a Gable suiting up…George W. Bush was president. Also, current No. 1 player in golf Jordan Spieth was 13 years old. And American Idol with host Simon Cowell was the most watched show in America. The year was 2006. In 2007 the Gable family arrived to Tipton County from Hawaii with daughters Scarlet, Savannah and Cecily. The trio helped ignite a era of dominance for the Lady Cougars with two State appearance and seven straight trips to Sub-State. On Aug. 18 it was time for life after the Gables and the Angie Gover Era to begin. The opponent in the Munford Gymnasium was the rival Covington Lady Chargers. The Lady Chargers spoiled the Lady Cougars season opener winning 25-19, 25-16 and 25-18. “This was my debut,” Gover noted. “I saw that my girls played pretty aggressive today. This was our first game at all. We played in one scrimmage before now. We’re pretty raw still. “I was impressed with their aggressiveness and blocking,” she added. “We need to work on our coverage. We need to work on transitioning on our hitters. Overall I was proud. Of course it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but yes I was proud.” Before Covington came to town to start the regular season, Munford had a practice game against Bolton. With only one dress rehearsal, it was time for the Lady Cougars to jump into the 2015 season. Munford’s De’Asha Banks quickly displayed she was ready to fill the shoes of Cecily Gable as an outside hitter with two kills. Her teammate Kaitlyn Westmoreland scored on a block at the net to make the score 8-7 in favor of Covington. The opening set remained close throughout with ties at 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 13-13 and 15-15. Covington broke the deadlock with an overhead volley score from Carly Cousar. Lady Charger Treasuary Poindexter served up an ace to make the score 17-15. Then Covington’s Neely Glenn helped the Lady Chargers pulled away with multiple serves leading to a 25-19 first-set win. Covington’s chemistry became apparent in the second and third sets behind the play of Poindexter and Glenn. The Lady Chargers were ahead 20-10 in the second set before winning 25-16. In the third set Covington maintained the advantage before winning 25-18. It was the Lady Chargers first win over Munford since the arrival of Scarlet Gable. Gover said despite the defeat her players showed potential and will need time to build the chemistry needed to pull out competitive games.
“We are very young,” she said. “I only have one senior. I have a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. We’re going to grow. Hopefully the next few years we will be somebody who competes up there. But it’s only August and we’re building toward district tournament this year.”
