The Nocona Lady Indians season came to an end on Tuesday night against Lindsay in the regional quarterfinals round.
The Lady Knights won 3-1, with their size and experience overwhelming the Lady Indians.
Nocona came into the match cooking, riding a 15-game winning streak and showing a lot of growth after having a lot of ups and downs in the first month of the season. In that first month, Nocona ran into this Lindsay team twice and lost both times.
The Lady Knights took control of the opening set early. Lindsay led 14-6 and it grew to double-digits 20-10 with its looking rough.
Nocona then went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 22-20 and show the Lady Knights they were not going to have an easy time.
Still, Lindsay was able to recover and closed out the first set winning the final three points 25-20 to take 1-0 lead.
Despite having that great run to close the first set, the Lady Indians did not have any of that momentum in set two. Again the Lady Knights jumped out on top with the lead slowly growing from 13-7, 16-9 and 19-11. Nocona did not have a comeback moment like in the first set as Lindsay won comfortably 25-16 to take a 2-0 lead.
The third set proved to be the most competitive of the match. The Lady Knights still had the lead and control for most of it, but they were not pulling away as the set went on.
Lindsay led 7-3 and 12-8, but Nocona hung around and closed the lead to 21-19.
The Lady Indians would tie the score up at 21-21 and from there it was back and forth for the next 14 points.
Nocona received a scare when Skyler Smith went down holding her ankle as her team went up 24-23.
After a pause in the action and getting helped up by trainers, she was walking under own power with no noticeable limp and decided to stay in the match.
It went back and forth with both teams having several chances to close out the set, but in the end the Lady Indians were able to win 29-27 to cut the lead to 2-1 and extend the match.
Whether it was the last gasp from a gritty Lady Indians team or if it was the start of a come-back decided in the fifth set, everyone would find out in set four.
Unfortunately, that same gritty magic in the third set was nowhere for the Lady Indians. Lindsay extended its lead to 10-5 and there would be no comeback moment in this set.
At that point the team picture banner that was hanging in front of the stands had started to fall. After getting hung back up, it failed beyond repair later on when the Lady Knights pulled ahead 19-10, with it getting bundled up as the end of the match was nearing.
Lindsay won 25-15 to win the set and the match 3-1 to go to the regional tournament.

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