It was a hard fought away game that went back and forth Tuesday night, but the Nocona Lady Indians just could not get the win at Lindsay.
The Lady Indians lost a close fifth set in a match where either team could have won in the end.
The first set did not go the way Nocona wanted. Facing a Lindsay team that was tall in the middle, the Lady Indians knew they would have to deal with some blocks in the middle and look to attack elsewhere. Still, Nocona was blindsided in the first set.
Falling behind 12-8, the Lady Indians got into a vicious serve receive cycle where nothing was going right. The lead quickly grew to 20-10 and Lindsay was able to finish things off with little resistance to win the first set 25-10.
The good thing was Nocona could only play better and they responded as such. After a back and forth opening to the set, the Lady Indians held a slight 13-12 lead. They were able to grow that to 19-16 lead before finishing the set on a 6-0 run to win the set 25-16 and tie the match up.
Things did not get off to a good start for Nocona in the third set as they fell behind 9-6 and it only got worse from there. Lindsay built a 17-8 lead and looked poised to take the set and the lead in another one sided set.
Ella Nunneley stepped up for the Lady Indians. Utilizing her jump serve and good placement, Nunneley’s serve was the catalyst behind Nocona’s comeback. Her serve caused Lindsay players trouble, leading to some free points or free ball the Lady Indians was able to jump upon and score.
Nocona scored 10 straight points and took an 18-17 lead. After coming to an end, Lindsay was able to regain the lead down the stretch and held a close 23-22 lead. Fortunately, the Lady Indians were able to clinch next three points to pull off the set comeback to win 25-23 and take a 2-1 match lead.
Needing to win the next set to win the match, Nocona was coming off a wave of momentum. With the completed comeback, people in the stands were confident. The Lady Knights needed to get off to a strong start to make sure the match would continue. Lindsay responded in kind, taking an early 11-9lead and growing it to a 17-13 lead. The Lady Indians were able to catch all the way back up, but still trailed 23-22. On set point, a controversial double hit call did not go Nocona’s way as Lindsay won 25-22 to force a fifth and final set.
With the fifth set changed to the first team to score 15 instead of 25 points, every little lead is magnified. The Lady Indians were up 6-4 early, but the Lady Knights switched things around and held a 13-11 lead. Nunneley was up to serve and the fans were hoping she could pull off some of that magic she had in set three. After Nocona scored a point to cut the lead to one, things really did look good for the Lady Indians.
Unfortunately, Lindsay broke the serve to go back up by two points and more importantly was on match point. At some point during the point, the ball went into the net for Nocona and the setters could not dig the ball out of the net as the ball fell to the floor as the Lady Knights won the set 15-12.

To read the rest of the story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.