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.
In its first match since last year’s state semifinal appearance, Saint Jo hosted Bryson Aug. 11 and took a 25-13, 25-12, 25-21 win over the Cowgirls.
The Lady Panthers lost some talent to graduation but have five seniors ready to have a successful season. Savannah Hil, one of the five, got Saint Jo rolling offensively with a four-point serving string, including a pair of aces. Abby Carter’s kill and Kamron Skidmore’s block helped put the Lady Panthers up 5-2 in game one.
Hadleigh Moore added a four-point string of her own to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatum Morman’s pair, helped by a Hill kill, gave Saint Jo a 14-5 lead. Bryson got within five before a Hill 3-pointer, with help by a Carter kill, put the lead back at 18-10.
After an Olivia Johnson kill broke serve, Jordyn O’Neal served up the final five points, with Johnson providing a kill to move things along.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Despite being the smallest school in the Brock varsity classic volleyball tournament, the Lady Indians finished 4th out of the eight teams there.
After losing to the host team in its first pool play match Aug. 14 18-25, 14-25 and also to Class 3A Wall 12-25, 8-25, Nocona rebounded to close out pool play with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Christoval. Sy Parker had 16 kills and 7 blocks in the three matches. Raylea Bowles had 12 kills, 17 digs and served up three aces. Maddyn Bowles had seven kills and 14 digs while Paige Davis had seven kills and 15 digs. Baylee Thomas added 11 digs.
From the setter spot, Kasi Castro had 20 assists, served up five aces and contributed 14 digs. Leah Meekins added 18 assists and six digs during the three matches.
To open Saturday’s bracket play, the Lady Indians posted a 25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19 win over Fort Worth Christian. Castro staked Nocona to a 2-0 lead in game one. Kills by Parker set up pairs of points from Raylea Bowles and Leah Meekins helped Nocona negate an early deficit and take a 10-9 lead.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
County football teams had their first scrimmage of the season Aug. 14 with mixed results.
Forestburg hosted Azle Christian and Victory Christian. Under a new system with new head coach Cori Hayes, the Longhorns looked pretty good in the coach’s eye.
“The first team looked good,” Hayes explained. “Overall we need to work on our pace and blocking assignments and blocking assignments. Overall we looked good for the new regime.”
Forestburg hits the road to scrimmage Newcastle Aug. 21.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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