Published: November 02, 2009 08:34 pm      

Wortham Lady Bulldogs begin playoffs

By Todd Wills

Daily Sun



The Wortham Lady Bulldogs volleyball team ended the regular season with a thud, a 3-game loss at Dawson.

Fortunately someone invented warmup games, played in between the regular season and playoffs to keep teams tuned up for the postseason.

Wortham blitzed Hubbard in 3-games, 25-15, 26-24, 25-18, to get itself right for the playoffs. The Lady Bulldogs begin the postseason at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night against Milford at Rice High School.

The match against Hubbard was just what her team needed, Wortham coach Kim Fisher said.

“We did everything right,” said Fisher, in her first year at Wortham. “We have to take that same mentality against Milford. I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t make it past the first or second round.”

Fisher said sophomore hitter Ki’Undrea Smith, also Wortham’s first server, played well against Hubbard. So did senior hitter Jodi Thornton, who will be motivated by playing her last matches.

Outside hitter Luaren Libhart is Wortham’s best and most consistent player.

“Jodi’s got the right mentality now to be successful,” Fisher said. “Ki’Undrea is coming on strong. Lauren is Lauren.”

Mentally, Wortham is where it needs to be. It wouldn’t have been that way had the last match it played been that loss to Dawson in what, lucky for Wortham, wasn’t a must-win match. Wortham had clinched a playoff spot in its previous match.

“I was really disappointed with the way we ended district,” Fisher said. “Now I feel a lot better.”