The Maroon Tide’s volleyball team defeated the Hattiesburg Tigers Tuesday afternoon. The Maroon Tide won all three sets with scores of 25-15, 25-20 and 25-23.

“It was a good win and a district game for us, we needed to get that win,” said Head Coach Courtney Dickens.

“Something we’ve been working on is how to finish games, we’ve been up before during the season and just hadn’t been able to finish. We let teams come back on us and eventually beat us,” said Dickens.

 

In the first set, the Maroon Tide gained an 11-1 lead led by the serves of freshmen Kaigyn Kulas.

“She’s been on with her serving,” said Dickens.

The Maroon Tide won that set 25-15.

The second set was when Hattiesburg cleaned up their game and made set two a closer match, but the Maroon Tide held on to a close lead, winning 25-20. The third set went back in forth between the teams for the lead, but the Maroon Tide found a way to finish the game, something they’ve been struggling to do this season. Picayune finished set three 25-23.

“We played hard, they had some grit last night which is what I’ve been looking for all season,” said Dickens.

 

Serving has still been a problem for the Maroon Tide.

“Last night it was a little better but we still served too many out,” said Dickens.

Dickens would like to see her ladies do a better job of keeping their opponents guessing. She wants her players to mix up the hits and find holes to attack on the court.

 

“We’ve gotten better definitely in our defense” said Dickens. The young team has started to understand where they need to be on defense and how they need to cover the court and the opponent’s offense.

 

The Maroon Tide will face off with the West Harrison Hurricanes Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. The Maroon Tide lost to the Hurricanes in their previous matchup. The Hurricanes can put the ball down hard and for Picayune to pull out a win, “We’re going to have to block and be on time with our blocks,” said Dickens.

 

The Maroon Tide is third in the class 5 region 7 standings at 1-2 behind West Harrison and Long Beach.