The Bowie Lady Rabbits season came to an end on Tuesday night in their bi-district playoff game against Brock.
The Lady Eagles won in four sets, but a close fourth set that just didn’t go the Lady Rabbits made the sudden end to the season a sad one.
Bowie came into the game as the underdog, finishing third in the district standings and coming off losses to Breckenridge and Holliday. Brock’s only district losses came against district champion Peaster in the last month of the season.
The opening set of the match did not start the Lady Rabbits way. The Lady Eagles quickly got out to a 10-5 lead. For most of the set Brock was able to keep that margin, except when Bowie cut the lead down to two points 21-19.
Unfortunately, from there the Lady Eagles closed out the set, winning 25-20 to take the lead 1-0.
The second set was much different. The opening points were competitive, but slowly the Lady Rabbits started to pull away.
Bowie won five straight five-point exchanges 3-2, growing its lead to 15-10. From there the Lady Rabbits opened up the lead to 19-11 before closing out the set with little drama, winning 25-16 and tying the score at 1-1.
Unfortunately, Brock came out in the third set with some fury. Bowie fell behind early 10-5 and it only got worse before it got better. The Lady Eagles biggest lead at one point was 17-8.
Bowie did play better the rest of the set to make the final score more reasonable, but there was no miracle comeback to be had. Brock won the set 25-18 to take a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Rabbits would need to win the final two sets. From the two lost sets they suffered in the match already, they knew they could not get off to a rough start.
The opening 20 points were competitive as the teams were tied at 10-10. Down by one point 13-12, Bowie then opened up the biggest lead of the set, going on an 8-2 run to lead 20-15.
The Lady Rabbits still seemed like they were in control up 22-18, needing to win only three points to force a winner-take-all fifth set.
Unfortunately, Brock got on a run, scoring the next three points to cut the lead to 22-21 and forcing Bowie to call a timeout.
Eventually the teams were tied up at 23-23 before the Lady Eagles won the next point to take the lead and have their first match point. After another timeout from the Lady Rabbits, Bowie won the next point to tie the score at 24-24.
Teams have to win a set by two points, so it went past the 25 points teams usually need to secure the set.
Brock won the next point, but the Lady Rabbits won the next to tie the score at 25-25. The Lady Eagles then again won the next point to set up their third match point.
This time though, Bowie could not come up with the point.
A good hit ball into the back row against a scrambling defense went right between two Lady Rabbit players, who both dived into each other in their efforts to keep the ball in play.
Brock won the set 27-25 and the match 3-1.

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