Clearwater's Shannon Ferguson (13) blocks a hit from Ellington's Dani Shelton Thursday night in Piedmont. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ALEX ABATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

PIEDMONT -- Even though Clearwater lost the first game Thursday night, they sent the Ellington Lady Whippets a message.

The Lady Tigers were down early but finished on an 11-6 run before Ellington won. However, Clearwater came out strong in the second game, rallying for a 22-25, 25-16, 25-9 win.

"We were a little shaky in the first game, we really weren't sure what we were doing," Clearwater coach Rae Jean Fuchs said. "With this team, you have to kind of keep the groove going and they found it in the second game and just went out in the third game and found their niche, their groove, and put it together."

The Lady Tigers move to 1-1 on the season while Ellington fell to 0-1.

"A lot of it is first-game jitters," Ellington coach Pam Roderman said. "We had a girl that is still short on eligibility, and she is one of our main players. That kind of throws your whole perspective off."

Even though the Lady Tigers couldn't come all the way back in the first game, the run they had helped built momentum.

"If anything, I think it really pumped us up," Clearwater's Tiffany Tucker said. "That really got it in our heads that we have to want this, we have to go out there and show everybody that we want this and just prove it."

After winning the second game 25-16, the Lady Tigers came out and scored the first five points of the decisive game to get off to a good start. The Lady Tigers were dialed in mentally throughout the later stages of the contest.

"It is just a mental game really," Clearwater's Leslie Smith said. "We just have to be confident I think."

Once Ellington was down 5-0 in the final game, it got within 8-6 but got no closer the rest of the way.

"You get behind in a volleyball game and it is really tough," Roderman said. "They were doing a lot of dinks and our communication was a little slow."

Although the Lady Tigers were solid later in the match, it was the Lady Whippets that came out strong. The opening game was tied 4-4 before Ellington scored three straight to take the lead. The Lady Whippets kept the intensity up and extended their lead to 19-11 before Clearwater rallied. Even with the rally, Ellington held it together to win the game.

"(Our girls) came out strong, they were excited," Roderman said. "It was a whole new lineup -- it was kind of a last minute thing and it worked for us."

The Lady Tigers didn't come out sharp to start the contest, Fuchs said.

"They came out strong in warmup and just seemed like they got a little bit down and a little bit timid and scared that first game for some reason," Fuchs said. "(They) started pulling it together and finding out where they needed to go and what they needed to do."

If the Lady Whippets are to do better as the season goes along, they will have to talk more out on the floor, Roderman said.

"We have to move our feet and we have to cover and we just have to be there," he added.