McCoy, Heralds roll past Stephens

Central Christian Bible’s Amy McCoy showed why she earned national honors as Student-Athlete of the Week last month for the Heralds.

On Saturday at Silverthorne Arena, McCoy led her team to a 30-27, 30-17, 30-23 victory against the Stephens College Stars.

Tabitha Palmer had 15 kills, and McCoy had 12 to overwhelm the Stars (1-8), who increased their losing streak to four matches.

“Amy McCoy really stood out tonight,” Heralds coach Amy Ralls said. “She’s an all-around player who is always very smart.”

Ralls said her team might have gotten too relaxed early. The Heralds had trouble early most of the first game but took its first lead 25-24 and didn’t fall behind again in the match. In the second game, Central Christian appeared as though it answered the wakeup call, scoring 12 of the first 16 points.

The Heralds (9-3) defeated the Stars on Sept. 25 more easily, creating a false sense of security, Ralls said.

“We’ve got some tough games coming up and might have been thinking too far ahead,” Ralls said. “But they came back and I think that overall it shows the type of people they are.”

Stars sophomore Freda Runnells said Stephens was more aggressive Saturday and gave the Heralds a better test than the first meeting.

Runnells, who led the Stars with 11 kills and eight blocks, said she was pleased that the Stars played a more cerebral game.

“The more they’d hit cross court, the more we’d try to compensate,” Runnells said. “I think that means that more people are understanding the game better, and that’s encouraging.”

Stephens’ unforced errors decreased, giving the team a solid effort to build on, Runnells said.

“I’ll take getting outplayed any day, as long as we’re not giving them the game,” Runnells said. “If we’re playing smart and we’re playing as a team cohesively, I’m OK with that.”

Stephens assistant coach Dane Pavlovich said his team’s development and teamwork have been encouraging.

“You never feel good about a loss, but we feel like we made some definite improvements and made some strides,” Pavlovich said.