Cass High faced a volleyball program Tuesday that currently sits on a perch where any team would desire to rest.

And though the Lady Colonels couldn't not knock off defending Class AAAAA state champion Pope -- which is now in Class AAAA -- coach Alicen Lee hopes her team learns from its humbling 25-4, 25-4 home defeat.

"They have to play good teams to get better," Lee said of her players. "All we ask of them is to go out there and try. ... (Pope is) a well-developed team and we have to play those teams to get better."

With her team trailing 12-2 in the first game against the Lady Greyhounds, the first-year head coach first delivered that message to her team.

In the next game, Cass got an urging from its coach, who wanted players on the court that would compete until the end.

The Lady Colonels trailed 7-0 at the time, but played with more determination from that juncture on, which pleased their coach.

"They kept their heads up. They didn't get down," said Lee, a former Sandy Creek and Berry College player. "They seemed to keep pushing."

Lee applauded her team's serving against Pope (23-1), the No. 1-ranked team in the Class AAAA PrepCountry.com/GACA Coaches poll.

While its serving fared well for the most part, Cass struggled to return many serves from the hard-serving Lady Greyhounds, with many of its digs going awry.

The Lady Colonels didn't have nearly as much trouble returning in its first match with Creekview, but still lost in two games, 25-6, 25-8.

Cass got within two points of the Lady Grizzlies in the second game (8-6), but the visitors pulled away, going on two separate 7-0 runs.

The Lady Colonels' next match will come Thursday when they host archrival Cartersville, while their next area match will be next Tuesday, Sept. 21, against another rival, Woodland, during senior night for Cass (7-9), which dropped to 2-2 in Area 7-AAAA with its losses to Pope and Creekview.