SPORTS
HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL: Saint Jo opens season at home
By ERIC VICCARO
sports@bowienewsonline.com
The Saint Jo High School volleyball team advanced to the bi-district round for the second straight season in 2016.
With most of the team back, save for graduated Sheridan Stiteler, the Lady Panthers seem poised to make some noise.
“I think there’s more excitement than last year,” said Charlie Hamilton Pittman, set for her second season leading Saint Jo. “Last year, I got my foot in the door as coach. I think we are going in the right direction.”
Bryson eliminated Saint Jo during the bi-district round in four games, and the Panthers finished with a 12-27 mark. They were 5-9 in District 2A-10, tied with Collinsville.
Two-a-day practices will begin on Aug. 1, the first allowable date for training sessions as set by the University Interscholastic League.
But, the players have already been putting in plenty of work with Bowie’s T.G.I.F. volleyball league.
First-team all-district selection Charity Brawner has been playing club volleyball. Alyssa Hennessey is another returning first-team all-district player. Promising freshman Hannah Reyling was named best attacker at the Tarleton State University camp in June.
Saint Jo will participate in a scrimmage at Gold-Burg in Stoneburg on Aug. 4. The Lady Panthers will play both Alvord and Perrin-Whitt.
The season opener is set for “The Dome” as Saint Jo plays host to Petrolia. The Lady Panthers continue eating home cooking with their own tournament from Aug. 10-12.
Hamilton Pittman reported the tournament will feature the following schools this year: Savoy, S&S Consolidated (Sadler), district foe Collinsville, Electra, Perrin-Whitt, Graford, Muenster Sacred Heart, Chico and Alvord. Read more in the July 12 Bowie News.
Saint Jo’s Alyssa Hennessey plays at the net during the Conference 1A-Region III volleyball players versus Bryson here in Bowie. Hennessey was a first-team all-district pick in 2016. (News file photo by Dani Blackburn)
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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