For Enterprise, the win was the eighth straight this year after a 7-8 start to this season.
David Mundee ENTERPRISE – The Dothan Wolves volleyball team played their most competitive match with rival Enterprise in their brief history on Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Wildcats from extending a couple of streaks.
Enterprise won its 16th straight match over Dothan since the Wolves consolidated in 2019, once again winning in straight sets in taking a 25-20, 25-16, 25-20 victory at Wildcat Arena. All 16 wins, including a couple of regular-season and area tournament matches, have come by straight sets, making it 46 straight sets the Wildcats have won without a set loss to Dothan. More importantly for Enterprise, the win was the eighth straight this year after a 7-8 start to this season. “We have been working on consistency,” Enterprise head coach Allison Harding said. “We have a team full of skilled individuals who can play at a high level, but sometimes we struggle with consistency, not making the first serve or a simple dig, shanking it and not able to recover it. People are also reading… “I am extremely proud that something we have been working on was good tonight. I told them towards the end that our consistency has gone up in our games and our level of play has gone up as well.” Harding, who is in her first year at Enterprise, said several factors have been key in the recent winning streak for the Wildcats, who also improved to 4-0 in Class 7A, Area 4 play with Thursday’s win. “Just really understanding them as individuals and what they can bring because we have a lot of skilled players and I can put them anywhere on the court,” Harding said. “Solidifying where they can help us best is crucial for us. Overall, them understanding, ‘This is where I need to be. These are my responsibilities and I have to make sure I am locked in and have a competitive mindset every time I am on the court. If not, I could become a liability.’” On the opposite side, while it fell once again to its rival, Dothan did score its most points against Enterprise in a dual match, recording 56 on the night. The previous high was 50 in 2021. Also, the Wolves scored 20 points in two of three sets for the first time in a match against EHS.“I like the competition we have with them,” Dothan head coach Karie Williams said. “I feel like every game is going to be good competition this year. My team is still molding off players that have come in with the players who were there last year. We are still trying to piece it together. I have multiple players playing left and right sides and we are trying to get the best possible scenarios.”“I am proud of the girls for competing. They are competitors who have to do that play after play and not take plays off. That is what we are looking for.” During a mostly tight first set, Dothan surged in front 18-15 following a kill and a block by Mariyah Stampley. Laeken Griffith took over for Enterprise. First, she earned a kill, then turning to serving, recording two straight aces to tie it 18 all. Hayley Cruz delivered three kills as Enterprise scored seven straight points to go up 22-18. The Wolves cut it to two, including a block from Stampley, but Enterprise scored three straight with a kill from Cruz finishing it at 25-20 Enterprise. After an 11-11 tie in the second set, the Wildcats pulled away, scoring nine of 10 points to go up 20-12. Griffith and Monika Howard combined on a block, Griffith had a kill and Anslee Milliner had an ace during the sequence. The Wolves could get no closer than six points during the remainder of the set as EHS pulled away to a 25-16 set win. The Wildcats appeared set to pull away in the third set, racing to a 5-1 lead, but Dothan slowly battled back, eventually tying it at 12 when Ella Brown slammed down a free ball at the top of the net.The Wildcats, though, roared back with four of the next five points to tie it at 17-17.They never lost either as Hannah Napoli delivered four straight aces in taking advantage of a weak serve receive in the back row. Howard and Cruz delivered a block to end it at 25-20. The Wildcats earned 12 aces with Napoli with five, Caroline Forehad with four and Griffith with two to lead the way. “One thing I will say that has been a strength of ours is serving,” Harding said. “We have a few girls that go on runs and that helped us get out of those tight situations. We had some nice aggressive serves.” Maryah Gordon led the hitting with nine kills with Cruz and Howard following with seven each. Griffith and Milliner added five and four, respectively. Milliner also had 14 assists and 14 digs and Sydney Neuwein delivered 13 assists. Napoli had 10 digs and Forehand seven digs. Howard had three blocks and Delcy Harrison two. For Dothan, Freeman had six kills and Brown, Brantlee McCarthy, Mary Beth Arnold and Stampley had four kills each. Freeman had two aces and Stampley had two blocks and a block assist. Catherine Farmer delivered nine assists and Freeman eight. Reese Colbert had 13 digs and Freeman and Brown had seven each.Leading the Wildcats were Olivia Archie with three kills and two blocks, Ally Henderson with four aces and two kills and Alana Chestnut with four aces and two digs. Graycie Harrison had two kills, two blocks and five assists and Charlie Hodge had two kills. Kseniia Filonova had four digs and Elizabeth Napoli had six assists. For Dothan, Eriana Snell had four kills and two blocks, Jamiyah Davis had three kills and Elizabeth Brantley had two blocks. Erin McKinley had seven assists, while Lacey Chapman had eight digs, Alli Cole five digs and Abigail Baxley three digs.David Mundee Follow David Mundee Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
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