Published: August 17, 2008 10:50 am      

Salvage job

Duncan claims seventh place in Cameron Tourney

LAWTON — LAWTON — The Lady Demons were able to leave Lawton feeling good about themselves after defeating El Reno in the seventh place game of the Cameron Tournament. As for the first three games of the day, well it gave them something to work on.

The Duncan volleyball team finished seventh in the tournament, in stark contrast to last year when it captured first place. The tea leaves are quite clear for the Lady Demons, which entered the tournament ranked No. 15 in Class 5A. There is a lot of work that lies ahead.

“We learned that we have a lot of work to do,” Duncan head coach Randy Pawpa said. “We need to work harder in practice.

“The win over El Reno was big, I told them we could salvage the afternoon with a win. It doesn’t matter if it was ugly, a win is a win.”

The win against El Reno did have its unattractive moments, but not in the first game. A Taylor Spradlin kill kick-started a four-point run that boosted Duncan’s lead to 19-10. The Lady Indians closed the gap to 23-19 late in the match, when the Lady Demon’s serve-receive game went south, but the Spradlin sisters put the game away. Taylor tipped the ball beyond the reach of the El Reno defense for game point and Jill Spradlin served up an ace to close the game out.

Duncan came out in the second game of the match with momentum, taking an early 6-3 lead. But defensive problems put the team into a corner as El Reno took an 11-6 lead. The Lady Indians had two aces in the run.

“I thought they would handle the serve-receive better,” Pawpa said. “We had a hard time putting something together.”

Despite the setback, Duncan refused to let the game get away. Led by Amber Truax, the Lady Demons fought back to within 20-19. The game stayed within one point when Taylor Spradlin picked up an ace to make the score 22-21 but it was El Reno that would claim the win and force the match into a third game.

Duncan fell behind 10-8 in the deciding game, but came back to forge a tie at 13-13 on a Taylor Spradlin kill. Hitting errors would doom El Reno, as it committed three to account for the last Lady Demon points in the 16-14 win.

Duncan started the day off with a match against Southeast, falling 25-27, 25-12, 15-11. Sarah Gregg led the team in kills with four while Kathryn Jeffords was credited with seven assists in replacement of Molly Byrom, who missed the tournament with an injury.

The first game would be the last that Duncan would win until the match against El Reno as it dropped its next two matches in two sets.

Oklahoma Christian defeated Duncan 25-14, 25-18. Jill Spradlin picked up four assists to lead the Lady Demons in the loss and Jeffords picked up seven more assists.

Duncan did not fare much better in the next match as it fell to Cement 25-13, 25-16. Truax finished with three kills in the match.

The Lady Demons will return to action Monday when it visits Lawton. The freshman will lead off the match at 4 p.m.