SPORTS
Nocona Lady Indians volleyball finish runner-up at Graham
The Nocona Lady Indians had another successful tournament at Graham over the weekend, coming up just short of winning the entire tournament.
The Lady Indians cruised through pool play on Friday and the gold bracket on Saturday before falling short in the championship game against Denver City.
Nocona played four teams in pool play on Friday, with two of them against Hawley and Denver City having to go to a third and final set.
After blowing Hawley away in the first set 25-9, the next two sets were back and forth. Hawley was able to win the second set 25-21 to force a third set.
It could have gone either way, but the Lady Indians pulled out the win 25-23.
Against Denver City, Nocona was able to win the first set convincingly 25-18. The second set went back and forth, needing to go to extra points where Denver City pulled out the win 27-25 to force a third set. The Lady Indians were able to pull themselves together and won the third set by a comfortable margin 25-16.
The 4-0 record allowed Nocona to go to the gold bracket. Their opening game on Saturday against Miller Grove proved no challenge as the Lady Indians won in straight sets easily.
Their next game against Clyde provided more of a challenge, with Clyde stealing the first set 25-22 to take the lead. Nocona battled in the second set and was able to pull it out with a close 25-23 win to force a third set.
The Lady Indians took control of the third set and won by a comfortable margin 25-18 to win the match and put them in the championship game.
They would have a rematch against Denver City, where unfortunately things did not go like the previous day.
“In the championship game against Denver City, we lost a close first set (25-22) and just lost our focus,” Coach Tiffany Clay said. “We got blocked a couple of times and our mindset went from being aggressive to playing it safe. They had three big guns and defensively were pretty scrappy so that just gave them an opportunity to stay in system and attack back at us.”
Denver City won the second set easily 25-14 to win in straight sets and the championship.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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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