With the 2023 volleyball season in the rearview mirror, the last bit of news are the all-district lists that honor players play both on and off the court.
The Bowie Lady Rabbits had two senior front court players, Olivia Gill and Gracie Duke, who both had played on varsity all four years, be named to the all-district first team.
Senior setter Kinley Russell and senior middle-blocker Ziba Robbins were named to the second team list. On the honorable mention team, seniors Melenie Cantu and Allie Parr were named along with sophomore Rhyan Carle.
For Nocona, the defending district champs and regional final runners-up had a lot of superlative awards.
Skyler Smith was named the district’s most valuable player for the second straight season. Meg Meekins was co-setter of the year, Graci Brown was the district’s co-defensive MVP and Aubree Kleinhans was named the district’s libero of the year.
Coach Kara Lucherk was also named the district’s coach of the year for the second straight year.
All of the area’s 1A teams were in the same district so awards were split between them.
Saint Jo won the district title for the second straight year and were represented well.
Taylor Patrick was named the district MVP while Krista Reeves was the defensive MVP and Aubrey Morman was named blocker of the year.
First team members included Maxey Johnson, Payzlie Cervantes and Cara Vogel. Second team members were Aliyah Vasquez and Kamron Skidmore while Reagan Wilson was named to the honorable mention team.
Prairie Valley finished second and had a couple of players earn superlative awards. Linzie Priddy was named the district’s offensive MVP while Renee Stout was co-setter of the year. Coach Seth Stephens also was named the district’s coach of the year.
First team selections for the Lady Bulldogs included Kailie Cearley and Natalee Young. Second team selections were Kasi Phillips and Kennedy Stone.
Forestburg finished third in the district and had one player who earned a superlative award. Alli Cisneros was libero of the year.
Lili Cisneros was named the district’s first team while Reagan and Logan Ladewig were named the district’s second team. Honorable mention went to Justynne Roller and Madisen Deason for the Lady Horns.
Gold-Burg had Ollie Gaston earn the district’s co-setter of the year. Jimenia Garcia was a first team all-district selection. Jasmine Rojas earned second team honors.
Alyson Rojas, Hallie Nelson, Raigen Hilton and Lexie Eaton were given honorable mention from Gold-Burg.
Bellevue had Tristan Shook earn the district’s newcomer of the year. First team selection went to Mary Grace Broussard. Brittany Gill and Brylie Hager were named to the district’s second team.
Honorable mention selections for the Lady Eagles include Callie Martin, Selah and Kara Denson.

To see lists for all teams, including academic all-district selections, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

Saint Jo girls
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers played in their first tournament early last week at Petrolia.
The Lady Panthers went 3-0 and were supposed to play in the championship game against an Australian team, but scheduling conflicts did not allow that game to be played.
Saint Jo won all three of its games during the two days in dominant fashion.
The Lady Panthers beat Prestonwood North 64-37, beat Vernon Northside 52-15 and tournament host Petrolia 43-17.
Coach Daniel Lindenborn liked the results, but with only one game played before heading into the tournament, some early season issues stood out as well as some good things.

Bellevue girls
The Bellevue Lady Eagles played in the days following Thanksgiving last week in a tournament at Hirschi.
The Lady Eagles went 1-2 during the two days which was the tough way to come back from the holiday break.
Bellevue lost to 4A Perryton 56-27, but rebounded to beat tournament host 4A Hirschi 49-25. The Lady Eagles then lost to Electra 57-36 to end the tournament.

Missing scores
Missing information from Saint Jo boy’s game.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

The Nocona Lady Indians won their first tournament early last week at Decatur playing against bigger schools.
The Lady Indians went 4-0 to win the championship despite coming into the tournament with only three practices and two games under their belts.
Nocona was the smallest school in the tournament and also, probably, the shortest team. That is nothing new for the Lady Indians dating back to last season.
Still, Nocona got tested right away with its game against 4A Canyon Randall. The Lady Indians led from the second quarter on before surviving a fourth quarter offensive explosion where both teams combined to score 46 points.
Nocona just held on to win by one basket 56-53.
Skyler Smith led the team with 23 points and 12 rebounds while Meg Meekins scored 22 points and had four assists.
The first day did not get any easier playing against 3A Wall. The Lady Hawks made a bunch of 3-pointers throughout the game that allowed them to keep up with the Lady Indians despite Nocona leading from the start again.
It was another high scoring fourth quarter where Wall made up some of the lead, but ran out of time against the Lady Indians’ ball control late in the game.
Nocona won another close game 72-67 to finish day one 2-0.
Meekins led the team with 29 points and six assists while Smith scored 21 points and grabbed a team high nine rebounds. Avery Crutsinger scored 11 points in the game as well while Reagan Phipps swiped a team high two steals and Aubree Kleinhans grabbed six rebounds.
The Lady Indians then had a rematch against 3A City View, a team they beat to begin the season only the previous week.
It went similar to that game, though Nocona slowed down the pace in the second half after building a double-digit lead in the first quarter. The Lady Indians played almost even the final three quarters and won 59-46 to qualify for the championship game.
Smith led the team with 22 points and 13 rebounds while Meekins scored 15 points and had four assists. Kleinhans and Phipps each scored six points.
In the championship game, Nocona faced the biggest school in the tournament, 6A Euless Trinity. The Lady Trojans featured taller, longer and more athletic players at almost every position and smother half-court zone defense that looked to feast on passes to the corner.
The Lady Indians were ready as they were making 3-point shots over the zone early on and built a 19-4 lead after the first quarter.
Even with Euless Trinity getting its offense into gear for the next three quarters, Nocona controlled the tempo and kept their lead up for the rest of the game.
With a double-digit lead, the Lady Indians utilized ball control stalling tactics in the second half to make the aggressive Lady Trojan defense pay for overcommitting.
Nocona won with little drama 56-40.
Meekins led the team with 24 points while Smith was second with 11 points while grabbing a team high eight rebounds a had five assists. Kleinhans scored 11 points while making three 3-pointers and Phipps scored six points on good cuts to the basket. Avery Crutsinger grabbed five rebounds while drawing several charges as the team’s undersized post player.
Meekins was named the tournament’s most valuable player and Smith was named to the all-tournament team to go along with the team’s tournament trophy.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.