The Dawson County Lady Tigers volleyball team were just four points from stealing their eighth win of the season against Habersham Central on Thursday, Aug. 26. 

“We’ve never played them that close in my six years here and we’ve played them almost every year,” Lady Tigers head coach Tanya Porter said after the game. 

Not only have the Lady Tigers never beaten Habersham Central, they had never won a set against them prior to Thursday night’s game. The Lady Tigers lost 3-2 in a thrilling back-and-forth battle. 

After both teams winning a set in the first two, the Lady Tigers struggled for any consistency in the ever-important third set. Costly errors caused Dawson to drop the third set 25-11, needing to win the final two to escape with a victory. 

Big hits by Meghan Roche and Jessie Mann brought the momentum back to the Lady Tigers in the fourth set. The team still struggled with hitting errors after taking a big lead, but managed to escape the fourth set with a 25-21 win. 

“There were 15 points of service errors in the first three sets,” Porter said. “In a close game like those were, we can’t have that many errors. We had some hitting errors too, but that is going to happen. I wish we had taken the mentality of the next play but we still have a tendency to focus on the last bad play.”

This is just the second loss of the season for the Lady Tigers, who currently sit 7-2. They will play in a weekend tournament on Saturday, Aug. 28 and then begin region play on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at home against North Hall and White County. Action starts at 5 p.m.

“They both have really powerful middle hitters and our timing on our blocks are still off,” Porter said. “We’re working on it but that’s going to be a key factor.”