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October 24, 2009

Lady Jackets storm past Waxahachie at home

By Zack Cunningham/sportsreporter@trcle.com

In 2008 Cleburne senior libero Shelby Contreras went down with a season-ending hamstring injury that hurt the Lady Jackets during the remainder of the season.

When Contreras suffered a head injury on Friday night, it seemed history was repeating itself.

What happened next was perhaps Cleburne’s biggest win of the season, and Contreras returned in the second game to help the Lady Jackets to a sweep over first-place Waxahachie, 25-18, 25-21, 25-22.

At times playing with four sophomores on the floor, Cleburne head coach Floyd Rogers said his team did what it had to do in Contreras’ brief absence.

“I really feel because of the injury, they stepped it up,” Rogers said. “They knew one of their captains went down, so they took it to another level to finish it.”

With the Lady Jackets (20-17, 9-4) nursing an 11-10 lead in Game 1, Contreras hit the deck hard while diving for a dig and slammed her head against the hardwood.

After a brief timeout, she was helped to the sideline and examined by the Cleburne training staff.

From that point on in her absence, the Lady Jackets outscored Waxahachie, 14-7, to win Game 1.

Contreras returned to the floor with Cleburne leading, 20-17, in Game 2 and helped the Lady Jackets win five of the next nine points to take a 2-0 lead.

After falling to the Lady Indians in four games on the road earlier this season, Rogers said he believed his team had a chance for the win, but the sweep took even him by surprise.

“I did not envision a sweep,” Rogers said. “I was just looking for a win, but man, the sweep feels really good.”

Rogers said his team was running out of opportunities to put it all together, but his team capitalized on that opportunity Friday night.

“We talked about the ‘next times,’” Rogers said. “I told them this was one of the last ‘next times’ and that they had to do it now, and man, they responded, and I couldn’t be happier.

“Winning the second game kept the pressure on them. We knew if we kept it going, we were going to get more opportunities, and we capitalized on them.”

Morgan Brown had nine kills, seven digs, four blocks and an ace, and Aley Zachary had nine kills, two digs and two aces.

Haylie Marshall had 12 kills, 15 digs and an ace, and Kaci King had two kills, two digs and an ace.

Callie McNulty had two kills and three blocks, Contreras had 16 digs, and Emma Tarver had 11 digs.

Linsey Munguia had two kills and four digs, Lacy Stinebaugh had 32 assists, and Danika Slokovic had 13 digs and an ace.

Cleburne takes on Midlothian at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at home to close out the regular season and can force a tie for third place with a victory.

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