SPORTS
Volleyball Roundup
Nocona
Nocona came up just short of taking control of the district standings, losing to Holliday on senior night Friday in a five-set thriller.
The Lady Indians lost by the barest of margins in the fifth set after a couple of chances at match point were squandered away by both teams.
Nocona came out hot in front of its loud home crowd as everyone knew the importance of the game. Both teams had only one district loss and the winner would have sole possession of first place in the standings.
The Lady Indians took a big lead early in the first set, which was enough cushion to survive a late surge from the Lady Eagles to win the set 25-21.
The second set looked like it was going to be similar with Nocona taking control early, but Holliday wrestled momentum away to come back and win the set 25-21.
The Lady Indians still seemed affected by the second set as the third started, with the Lady Eagles taking control early on and never letting go. Nocona battled, but Holliday won the set 25-19 to take the lead in the match.
The fourth set was competitive in the early going, but the Lady Indians found their spark again. Taking control midway through, Nocona won the most one-sided set of the match 25-17 to set up a fifth and final set
Holliday took a two point lead early on. The Lady Indians tied the score at 7-7. Nocona took a two point lead 12-10 as the target 15 points loomed close.
The Lady Indians had a chance to win the match up 14-13, but the Lady Eagles did not relent.
With the 15 point target coming and going with neither team up by two points, both teams traded multiple match points but could not put the other team away.
Finally, it was Holliday that came through, winning the fifth set 19-17 to win the match.
Nocona’s final district match is another big one at Henrietta at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers won at Perrin-Whitt on Friday in straight sets to keep their undefeated record against 1A district opponents.
The Lady Panthers beat the Lady Pirates with little trouble with set scores of 25-13, 25-15 and 25-14.
Hannah Reyling led the team with 13 kills and six service aces. Kayden Skidmore had a team high 10 assists to go along with five kills and five aces. Libero Kassidy Pitman recorded a 90 percent serve-receive rating to help spark the offense.
Saint Jo’s final district match will come at rival Forestburg at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 23.
Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs lost a five-set heartbreaker on Saturday against district favorite Bryson at home.
The Cowgirls came back from two sets down to win in five sets against the Lady Bulldogs.
Prairie Valley won the first two sets 25-18 and 25-21.
Despite winning the second set, Bryson got enough good momentum there that seemed to carry over for the rest of the match with its scrappy defensive play.
The Lady Bulldogs did not help themselves as mental mistakes piled up, leading to the next two sets being no contest. The Cowgirls won sets three and four with one-sided scores of 25-10 and 25-13.
The fifth set was more of a contest, but Bryson pulled away in the end to win 15-11 to complete the comeback.
Emily Carpenter led the team with 20 kills and 16 digs. Veronica Gutierrez had a team high 18 assists. She and Molly Gilleland led the team with three service aces each.
Prairie Valley will not have to wait long for a rematch. The Lady Bulldogs end district play traveling to Bryson to play at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24.
Forestburg
The Forestburg Lady Horns lost at 2A state-power Poolville on Friday night.
A 30 minute power outage delayed the start of the match and while that was not the full cause of the Lady Horns loss it did not help things.
The Lady Monarchs won in straight sets with little trouble with scores of 25-4, 25-7 and 25-8.
Statistical leaders for Forestburg included Katie Willett and Athena Britain each getting one service ace each, Bailey Payne getting two kills, Willett passing out three assists and Keeleigh Burnam getting five digs.
Coach Cori Hayes felt like his team never got their mental status right after the power outage.
The Lady Horns play their final match of the season at home at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 against rival Saint Jo.
Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Lady Bears lost against 2A Windthorst on Saturday morning.
The Lady Trojans won in straight sets with set scores of 25-13, 25-11 and 25-13.
The Lady Bears were short handed, but did their best to compete, making Windthorst earn points after long rallies.
Coach Cheryl Cromleigh liked how her team fought overall.
“The girls played their hearts out, hustled from start to finish,” Cromleigh said. “I’m extremely proud of how the girls stepped up. Girls never quit.”
Gold-Burg’s last district match was earlier in the week played at Harrold on Tuesday.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
It was announced last week Nocona Athletic director/football coach Blake Crutsinger is resigning from his position at the school after serving four years.
Crutsinger said now is the time for his family to make the move, with his daughter Avery graduating after spending four years at Nocona and with his son Kellar about to enter high school and wanting the same for him at another school.
“With her going off to college, she had a really good four years here and just looking at Keller heading into high school and exploring some opportunities that might be better for him, it is just time,” Crutsinger said.
Crutsinger went 19-22 overall, helping the Indians to two playoff appearances in 2022 and 2023. The team’s best season was 2023, when it went 8-2 and won the district title, the first one in 11 years for the program.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo senior Payzlie Cervantes signed her letter of intent to play college basketball last week at Highland College in Kansas. She also played volleyball, softball and ran track at Saint Jo. “After talking with Coach Tana Coleman, I really connected with her and loved the campus vibe and direction she wants for the team,” Cervantes said. “I’m looking forward to continuing my basketball career while getting my associates degree in nursing to become a registered nurse.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Last week Montague County had five girls from Bowie and Saint Jo compete at the state tennis tournament, and one team brought back some hardware.
Sisters from Bowie, junior Heidi and freshman Willow Siebert brought back a bronze medal competing in the 3A girl’s doubles bracket.
The pair were the first people from the program to make it back to state since their half sisters, Meagan and Myah Russell, advanced nine years previously.
The Sieberts came into state as a two-seed, having finished second at the regional tournament the previous week.
The duo was ready as they blew through their first two matches. They beat a team from Hondo in the first round with the scores being 6-1, 6-1 and dominated even more in the second round against a team from Tatum, winning 6-0, 6-1.
That got them through to the second day of the tournament, but Coach Dayna Boothe was worried they had had it too easy on day one.
Playing in the semifinals, the Lady Rabbits faced a familiar foe, a team from Peaster they had beaten in the regional tournament the previous week. Unfortunately, near the end of the first set, with the Sieberts fighting to stay alive, Heidi went after a high lob and slammed into the fence. She hurt her right arm and had to play through it for the rest of the match.
They lost the match with the scores being 6-3, 6-3.
It was an all Peaster final, with the other side of the bracket producing the team that both beat the Sieberts at the regional tournament and won their second straight state title.
Still, despite the disappointment, Bowie is bringing back a bronze medal. According to Boothe, after contacting people who would know dating back to the late 1970s, it could possibly be the program’s first medals from the state tournament in tennis.
Of course, Bowie was not the only school represented. Saint Jo had Taylor Patrick competing in girl’s singles and the team of Bailie Nobile and Maxey Johnson competing in girl’s doubles in the 1A classification.
Senior Patrick was making her third appearance at the state tournament, but her first in the singles competition.
She finished third at the regional meet which meant she had a tough first round matchup against a second seed from Fort Davis.
It took everything from Patrick in a match that lasted two and a half hours. She went down in the first set 6-2, but rebounded in a tight second set to win 6-4 to force a third and final set. She had the momentum and won 6-2 to move on.
She had to summon the energy to play later that day against a fresh one-seed player from Utopia. Patrick lost 6-1, 6-1 to end her Saint Jo career. Her opponent would go on to finish second.
Juniors Johnson and Nobile were making their first appearances at the state meet after finishing second at the regional tournament. In the first round they played a tough match against a team from Marathon. It seemed evenly matched throughout, but small mistakes at inopportune times cost them throughout the match. In the end, the team lost by the scores of 6-3, 6-3.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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