[September 02, 2011] Bulldogs play up, knock down Corning Tweet Sep 02, 2011 (Corning Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The two teams were meeting for the first time in recent memory Tuesday, and it was visiting Los Molinos High who took home the memory of a positive outcome following the Bulldogs' 3-1 triumph over the cardinals at Corning High. Los Molinos -- a Division V school -- was playing up a division against Corning, which plays in D-IV, and while LM coach Chas Konopka downplayed any ideas of an added incentive when playing a Tehama County neighbor, he said his team just enjoyed the opportunity. "Corning's a good team, and it's nice to be playing a bigger school," the coach said. "It only makes us better." Corning took the first game 26-24 after only trailing once, but the Bulldogs regrouped to take the next three by scores of 25-21, 25-14 and 25-23. Corning's serving made the difference in the first game, but would prove to be there Achilles heel the rest of the way. "We had trouble with serve receive in Game 1," Konopka admitted, "but we made great adjustments in games 2-4. We got our sophomore setter (Kaitlyn Seaman) the ball and she did an excellent job finding our hitters." Seaman finished the night with 28 assists. Los Molinos jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the second game, behind a pair of Clarivel Castillo kills and another by Dannie Wabs, and the Bulldogs never relinquished the lead. "Passing was our biggest problem," said Corning coach Mike Albee, "and our short cover. We didn't cover blocks -- we got blocked a lot." Emily Bailey went up for three blocks for the Bulldogs, with Castillo and Briana Perez both providing a pair. While Albee expressed obvious concern over his team's serving difficulties, he was more perplexed at frequent rotation errors. "Serving is usually our strength, but we made 12 service errors." He added, "I don't know why they were having problems with the rotation, because it's the same thing we did at the Durham Jamboree." Los Molinos also took the early momentum in the third game, with a pair of Seaman aces, kills from Tasha Madison and Castillo and a Castillo block propelling them to a 9-0 advantage. Corning stayed close in the fourth game, with a pair of aces from Mindy Miranda and one by Hayley Calkins making it 5-5, but the Cardinals did not take a lead until a pair of LM hitting errors put them ahead 21-19. Kills by Rachel Bentz and Erica Rivera deadlocked the game at 23-23, but the Bulldogs notched the final two points to end the match. Wabs, the LM team captain, savored the victory, saying, "As soon as we got there they were saying we couldn't beat them. We have a young team and it feels great to be able to beat anybody when we put our mind to it." Albee said the Lady Cardinals were always in it, but that mistakes proved too costly. "It was a great match we could have won. We earned the first game, but mistakes gave them the last three." Castillo's 12 kills took game honors, and she was joined by Emily Bailey with nine, and five each from Wabs and Perez. Wabs, Castillo and Seaman each aced three serves. Calkins collected five aces in her 11 service points, with Miranda acing two among her five points. Calkins also put down six kill and Bentz, five. Corning (0-1) is on the court in the weekend's Hamilton Tournament, while Los Molinos (1-0 ) hosts Redding Adventist on Wednesday. Contact Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or [email protected]. ___ (c)2011 the Corning Observer (Corning, Calif.) Visit the Corning Observer (Corning, Calif.) at www.corning-observer.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]