Now that the Columbia Wildcats are officially eliminated from the playoffs, their plan is to play the rest of the season as if it were the playoffs and to send their seniors out right.
“We’re going to play hard for them, and we’re going to try to get better every set, every game,” head coach Ryan Loftin said. “We want to try to get our record going back in the right direction the best we can.”
With West Marion and Seminary each two games ahead of Columbia, the Wildcats can’t jump ahead of both.
At home Sept. 17, Columbia (3-8, 1-4) scored just 16 total points and was swept by Our Lady Academy 25-5, 25-8 and 25-3. Loftin said OLA outplayed the Wildcats from start to finish, but he believes they didn’t play terrible.
“It looks like we didn’t do much just looking at the scoreboard, but it’s OLA. It’s like playing ping pong with a championship ping pong player. You’re going to get some back across the net, but he’s just going to keep pounding them. We did a good job of getting the ball back over there to them, but we could never set up our attack.”
Monday at East Marion the Wildcats beat the Eagles 26-24 in the first set before falling in the next three 25-12, 25-15 and 25-10. Loftin said Aniyah Fortenberry, Patrice Oatis, Shania Martin and Jalaysia Everett served really well in the first set before the wheels fell off. He added they need to win the third set to make it a competitive match, but Columbia wasn’t mentally prepared.
The Wildcats were swept by Seminary on the road Tuesday 25-12, 25-21 and 25-12, and Loftin said he could tell by the way they warmed up they weren’t ready to play the first set. He added they rallied together in the second set, but a controversial call quelled their momentum and it snowballed from there.
Columbia traveled to Sumrall Thursday night, but results were unavailable at press time. The Wildcats will play in a tournament Saturday and take on West Harrison, Hancock and Biloxi before playing West Marion on the road Monday.
