SHELBY — To say Buckeye Central coach Missy McDougal was not happy with the play of her team Monday night was an understatement.
McDougal watched as her team struggled mightily in game one with Mansfield Christian, losing 25-21. The Buckettes recovered in time to down the Flames, but the BC mentor was not pleased, especially after the first set.
“I asked if they really wanted to end like this,” McDougal said. “There wasn’t anything we did right; we didn’t serve well, we didn’t pass well, we weren’t attacking. There wasn’t anything we did good.
“We’re better than that,” she added. “Everything was off. Even though we played better at the end, nothing was clicking.”
The top-seeded Buckettes recovered quickly, winning the final three games, 25-17, 25-17 and 25-11 to win the Division VI district semifinal.
With the win, BC (19-5) advances to the district championship game on Wednesday night at Shelby High School. The Buckettes will face third-seeded New London (12-12) at 6 p.m.
Despite their inconsistent effort in the first game, the Buckettes still held a 19-15 lead late in the game on an Adrienne Jury ace.
But the Flames came storming back, tying the game at 20-20 on a Bailee Nelson kill.
From that point, the Buckettes scored just one point the rest of the way while the Flames took the play to the net and came away with a win.
McDougal felt that illness to her daughter, Maren, simply threw the team off during the game.
“Maren hasn’t played since the sectional final; she’s been sick for about 10 or 11 days now,” McDougal said. “You can just tell. We don’t have her at practice, and she handles the ball every possession. We were just a little bit off. She gritted it out; she gave me everything she had.
“She’s struggling right now but the girls responded, they came out and they lost a little confidence in themselves in that first set. They pulled themselves together and they finished it off. It was enough to advance and that’s what’s important,” she added.
The Buckettes did respond the rest of the way.
Christian led 6-3 early in the second game before the Buckettes scored six straight points on the serve of Megan Siefert. The Flames did manage to cut the lead to 14-10 midway through the game, but the Buckettes scored 11 of the final 18 points to seal the win.
BC held an early 5-1 lead on an Aleyse Siefert kill before increasing the lead to 11-6 on a Maren McDougal serve.
Outside hitter Mara McDougal added five kills and three serve points the rest of the way as the Buckettes pulled away late.
The Buckettes finally found their footing in the fourth game and dominated the younger Flames.
BC held a 17-4 lead, scoring five straight points on Maren McDougal serves. Christian did cut the lead to 17-11 on a kill by Adelle Cramer, before the Buckettes scored the final eight points on the serve of libero Olivia Bishop.
“I told them I wanted them to loosen up,” McDougal said. “I said we almost blew a golden opportunity we have in front of ourselves tonight. I asked them if they felt we practiced as hard as we needed to this week. The answer is no. We haven’t had good practices; I need better effort; we need more intensity.
McDougal said that this team needs to get momentum going, starting with practice.
“This is it. I don’t want to hear about aches and pains, I don’t want to hear about being sick; we’ve got one chance. You’ve gotta win to advance and we need to bring the intensity to practice. It’s going to be a tough game on Wednesday night.”