SPORTS
Lady Indians finish runners-up at Graham
The Nocona Lady Indians bounced back to have a nearly flawless second tournament at Graham this past weekend.
The Lady Indians stormed through pool play to make it into the gold bracket before making it all the way to the championship game. Unfortunately, Nocona came up one set short of winning it all.
The Lady Indians started off the tournament on Friday with the opening of pool play against Miller Grove. The Lady Hornets won a closely contested first set 26-24 to take the lead.
That was all it took to wake up Nocona for the rest of the day. The Lady Indians went on to win not only the next two sets by comfortable margins 25-16 and 25-4 to win the match, but in the next three games in pool play. Nocona beat Mineral Wells 25-17 and 25-13, Hawley 25-10 and 25-12, and Abilene High 25-18 and 25-12.
After going 4-0 in pool play, the Lady Indians qualified for the gold bracket on Saturday. The first match against Amarillo Caprock proved tougher than any the team had faced the day before.
Nocona won the first set 25-22, but the Lady Horns came right back to win the second set 25-19. The third and final set went back and forth, going into extra points where the Lady Indians came out on top 29-27.
The second match in bracket play against Victory Christian proved the challenges were going to keep coming. Nocona won the first set 25-19, but lost a closely contested second set 27-25 to set up another winner-take-all third set.
The Lady Indians got ahead early in the third set and won it easily 25-12 to win the match and move on.
Nocona played Fort Worth Christian next for the right to play in the tournament’s championship game. The first set went down to the wire as the Lady Cardinals showed why they had made it this far as well, but the Lady Indians pulled out the win 26-24. Nocona followed it up with a second set that saw it play with a lead and win with a relatively comfortable margin 25-18 to qualify for the championship match.
It would be a rematch against state ranked Brock, who beat the Lady Indians in the regional semifinal last year to end their season.
The first set went to the Lady Eagles 25-17, who showed they were still a force to be reckoned with despite the extra fuel from Nocona. The Lady Indians would not back down though as they won set two 25-21 to force Nocona’s fourth third set of the tournament.
Unfortunately, a bad start from the Lady Indians proved too much for them to overcome as Brock won 25-11 to win the match and the tournament.
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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