Destinee Bridges (22) jumps up for a serve when Northeast Lauderdale faced off against Amory on Tuesday.

How They Stand:

CLARKDALE:

Round 1: Defeated Mize 3-1 on 10/7

Round 2: Defeated Bay Springs 3-1 on 10/10

Round 3: vs St. Andrew’s on 10/12

LAMAR:

Round 1: vs Rossville Christian (hosted by Mississippi College) on 10/16

NORTHEAST LAUDERDALE:

Round 1: Defeated Senatobia 3-0 on 10/7

Round 2: Defeated Amory 3-2 on 10/10

Round 3: @ New Albany on 10/12

RUSSELL CHRISTIAN:

Round 1: @ Tabernacle Christian on 10/16

SOUTHEAST LAUDERDALE:

Round 1: Defeated South Pike 3-1 on 10/7

Round 2: Defeated Jefferson Davis County 3-2 on 10/10

Round 3: vs Our Lady Academy on 10/12

WEST LAUDERDALE:

Round 1: Defeated South Pontotoc 3-2 on 10/7

Round 2: Lost to Caledonia 3-1 on 10/10

Post-match Q&A:

Debrah Everett – Northeast Lauderdale coach:

Q: Why did your team have a slow start against Amory?

A: “I think it came down to service errors really. We missed a lot of them out, and it was going to be a really close game, especially in the beginning because they were so fired up and ready to play. It was going to come down to those small points.”

Q: What can your team do before the next match to improve your serves?

A: “We should focus on our fundamentals and working on that in a pressure situation is something we do all the time, and it’s what we strive to do is just focus on our serves. That’s going to be huge. Without a serve, you can’t get a point.”

Q: Have you had another match this season in which your team came back to win after being down 2-0?

A: “I don’t think so. … I know my girls are in shape, and we’ve been training crossfit since May, and I know we can go five sets. So, I was fairly confident we were going to win the third set, and the fourth and fifth set was going to come down to fundamentals and them staying in their system, because they’re in shape. They can go five sets, they can go 10 sets, because they train. They train hard.”

Q: What did you tell your girls when they went down 2-0?

A: “I told them, ‘We’ve got this, and this is what we trained for. We’re in better shape, go win this third set.’ It’s exactly what I said, and I had full confidence that we were going to win the third, the fourth, and after the fourth I felt really confident we were going to win the fifth.”

Audrianna Green – Northeast Lauderdale outside hitter

Q: How does it feel to advance past a tough match in the playoffs?

A: “I’m so excited because I told them in the huddle going in the third set, ‘This is my senior season. I’d really like to not see you guys go. I don’t want my season to end right now, not at home, not away, not ever, so push right here.’”

Q: Why is it important to be conditioned for five set matches like tonight’s?

A: “We take an hour or an hour and a half after practice to condition, and we work hard, and that pays off because in a game when we’re running around we’re used to that. We’re pushed to our limits conditioning after practice already, so it’s nothing. Then after we workout, (coach Everett) will tell us to serve five in a row. We do five standing, five jumping, a few topspin, and you’ve got to get it in, and that puts pressure on, so we do well when pressure situations come, and when they get tired, we’re like, ‘Well we can go three more sets. We’ve got it.’”

Q: What did coach Everett tell you when yall went down 2-0?

A: “We know what we’re capable of, we know what we need to do. She’ll tell us little reminders of what we need to do, but the main thing was serve-receive. We call it first ball kill. Putting the ball away as quickly as possible when they have the serve is the most important part of the game. I think we sided out 90% of the time, so that won us the match, and keeping our serves in. Those were the two big important things.”

Q: Which of your teammates really impressed you against Amory?

A: “Kaitlyn (Grace), my setter. She was setting dimes, like she could set way off the net. … and still put it in a place where I was able to hit it and I was able to get kills, so that really impressed me. And she’s got over 1,000 career assists.”