Posted on September 14, 2017.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Life gives second chances sometimes. For the Millington Lady Trojans, another opportunity to prove they belong atop District 15-2A. Most experts said the championship would come down between Millington, Ripley or Covington coming into the 2017 campaign. On Aug. 29 the Lady Trojans were about to establish firm footing on the league’s perch jumping out 2-0 in sets over Ripley. But the Lady Tigers rallied to steal the match 3-2 in Millington. Last Thursday presented the Lady Trojans another chance to established themselves as one of the teams to beat when district tournament rolls around. The Covington Lady Chargers were dissolved in three sets 25-19, 25-25-16 and 25-13. “Coming into tonight’s game, one of our goals was to prove ourselves,” Millington Head Coach Whitney Horton said. “I think we kind of let up against Ripley. I told them tonight was the night to show everyone what the Lady Trojans are made of. I felt like they stepped up and accomplished those goals tonight.” It was clear the 9 days between the Ripley and Covington games inspired the seniors Lily Morton, Olivia Ballard, Addison Coulter, Paige Hall and TZ House. “Yes this was a very big win after all the hard losses, all the yelling and running we did,” House recalled. “ All that running, screaming and yelling all paid off tonight. Some of the yelling came from the seniors but it was all out of love. We want everyone to do their best and show what they can do on the court.” House started the ball rolling scoring twice in the opening moments of the first set. Millington was ahead 10-5 courtesy of a Hall tip. Later in the first frame Coulter contributed with a kill to make the tally 17-12. Then a loud Black and Gold boom was heard along the front row when freshmen Ally Mareno leaped up to score on a spike of her own. The soon-to-be 14-year-old was ready for the big stage of taking on Covington. “As a freshman playing on the varsity team, its huge whenever I can get out there and show I can play at this level,” Mareno said. “It feels like I’ve got my place on the team. “Addison is an outside hitter,” she added. “So the middle is a whole entirely different place on the court. You’ve got to know where the ball is and where everybody else is on the court not to run into anybody else. That is probably my biggest struggle right there. I hope I’m not in anyone’s way.” Mareno wasn’t in her teammates’ way. And she managed to make the ball avoid Lady Chargers throughout the night with spikes, tips and volleys. Before Mareno started to shine even more in the final two sets, Coulter and Hall closed out the first set 25-19 with spikes. Millington was ahead 16-10 midway in the second set. Mareno, Hall and Coulter paced the Lady Trojans. Then Hannah Clifton served Millington into total control helping to make the score 23-15. “Our serves were key tonight,” Horton said. “Against Ripley I think we missed 19 serves in the last three games. I told them, ‘No more.’ We’ve been serving every chance we’ve got in four days of practice. I think tonight it paid off.” A Clifton ace made the score 23-15 before the Lady Trojans prevailed 25-16. Hall continued the hot serving guiding Millington to a 7-0 advantage. In that run the Lady Trojans received a kill and block from Mareno. “She’s a freshman who has stepped up to fill a lot of those roles that we were missing at the beginning of the season,” Horton said. “She’s stepped up and I couldn’t be more proud of her.” Millington’s highlight of the night came ahead 8-1. With both teams keeping the point alive for several seconds, Hall deflected a Covington spike attempt. With the ball mere centimeters from the court, Clifton dove to keep the point alive creating an chance for Mareno to volley the ball for Coulter to kill. The 9-1 Millington advantage eventually matured into a 25-13 win. “After losing the game to Ripley last Tuesday, we won the first two sets and then loss the last three,” Mareno recalled. “We had to come back to show them we know what we’re doing.” House noted those things are talking, communicating, and keeping things uplifted. “Bring what we have to the plate and show out, we can surprise everyone with what we can do,” she said. “We have to show we can talk on the court and that we care about one another. We’ll keep each other up – we don’t bring each other down. We encourage each other and we move onto the next play.” Horton said her girls are starting to understand the philosophy she’s preaching and are ready to turn the corner in District 15-2A.
“We’ve just got to stay up for each other,” she concluded. “Communicating we can always work on that. Our blocking has gotten better. We can work on a little bit of our hitting. Some of pushes and stuff like that. Overall I have a great group of kids. To be able to coach fine young ladies like this I’m very blessed to be a part of this program.”
