The Picayune Maroon Tide volleyball team suffered a tough 0-3 loss Tuesday afternoon against the Biloxi Indians.

“The score doesn’t always reflect how your team plays,” said Head Volleyball Coach Courtney Dickens. Dickens’ team is young, so at times she’ll play all her five freshmen together.

 

The Biloxi Indians had a lot of experience and size over the young Maroon Tide. During the first set, the Maroon Tide found themselves struggling to execute passes, making it hard for them to dig out of the deficit.

“I called a time out, we talked about things we were doing. It seemed to help and we really didn’t struggle that too much for the rest of the night,” said Dickens

The Indians won the first set, 25-12.

 

Just as the Maroon Tide found a rhythm with passes, getting blocks on the Indians then become a struggle.

“They were really strong hitters,” said Dickens.

The Indians won set two 25-14 and won the final set with a score of 25-20. “We got better as we went,” said Dickens.

 

Even though passing wasn’t good in the beginning, the Maroon Tide tuned it around and made the needed adjustments. Coach Dickens said the passing ended up being very good on Tuesday.

“It’s crazy how they turned it around,” said Dickens.

 

Dickens prefers playing high level teams because that kind of competition makes her players better and prepares them for deep runs in the playoffs.

 

Dickens was proud of her team’s body language, an aspect of the game they’ve have been working on controlling in practice.

“They do get aggravated, they do get frustrated, and they don’t like losing but last night they did a really good job with their body language,” said Dickens.

 

This year Dickens and the Maroon Tide have been focusing a lot on defense, having struggled in that area the last couple seasons. She would also like to see her team get better at serving consistently.

 

“The defense has gotten a whole lot better but there are still somethings after watching film we will go over today and fix,” said Dickens.

She hopes by the time district games begin they will be sharp on defense.

 

The Maroon Tide has a quick turn around; they will play at home against another 6A team, Harrison Central, on Aug. 24 at 6:30.