SPORTS
Volleyball Roundup
Nocona vs Saint Jo
The Nocona Lady Indians traveled to down the road to beat Saint Jo on Friday night.
The Lady Indians won 3-1 as the two most recently successful volleyball programs in the county faced off for the first time in years.
Nocona was coming into the match following several tough losses against bigger schools while still missing its top outside hitter Meg Meekins with injury.
Saint Jo was coming off a successful run at its tournament the previous week and was playing well against schools both big and its own size.
With both teams making it all the way to the regional finals last year and each having good bet aspirations of making a deep playoff run this year, it was a good matchup for both programs that had been building towards this game for the past several seasons.
While Lady Indians were not at full strength and still has a couple younger players it is counting on at setter, the Lady Panthers had a senior led group that wanted to show it could play with and maybe beat the big school down the road.
The first set saw Nocona get off to a good start and Saint Jo could never catch back up. Up 10-5, the Lady Indians did not allow the Lady Panthers to get any closer and eventually closed the set well, winning 25-16.
The second set proved to be the most competitive one of the match from start to finish. The biggest lead any team ever got was two points at any time as it went down to the wire.
In the end, it was Nocona that came out on top 27-25. Up 2-0, the Lady Indians were feeling confident they were coming in and showing the difference between what a top team at 2A plays like compared to a 1A team.
Still, Saint Jo was not going to give up. The Lady Panthers started off set three well and seemed to catch Nocona lacking. Up 9-6, Saint Jo went on a 8-2 run to break the set open. The Lady Panthers won easily 25-15 to cut the lead to 2-1 and show the Lady Indians they would not be able to coast to a victory.
Not wanting to give Saint Jo any more hope of possibly turning this match around and forcing a fifth set, Nocona had to shake off the bad play from the third set and come in focused in set four.
The Lady Indians established control early up 12-8 and then 21-14. Saint Jo made a last gasp effort that made up a lot of the comfortable lead for Nocona in the final points, but in the end the Lady Indians won 25-22 to be victorious 3-1.
Bowie
The Bowie Lady Rabbits are still looking for their first district win after losing at City View on Friday.
The Lady Mustangs won 3-1 against the Lady Rabbits.
Bowie came into the match 0-2 in district after losing to Henrietta and Iowa Park.
The first set proved to be the most competitive of the match and could have gone either way. In extra points, City View came through winning 28-26 to go up 1-0.
This was a tough start as the Lady Mustangs took that momentum into set two and won far easier 25-16 to go up 2-0.
With their backs against the wall, the Lady Rabbits fought back and played the third set well, winning 25-16 to continue the match and give Bowie a chance for a comeback.
Unfortunately, the fourth set saw City View start off well and the Lady Rabbits just could not make up enough of the difference. The Lady Mustangs took the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
Forestburg
The Forestburg Lady Horns won their final non-district match on Friday at Vernon Northside easily.
The Lady Horns beat the Lady Indians in straight sets 3-0 to head into district on a positive note.
Forestburg was able to take a part Northside relatively easily with the set scores being 25-16, 25-21 and 25-7.
Brenna Briles led the team with 16 kills while also getting 11 assists, 10 digs and five service aces.
Logan Ladewig led the team with 12 assists while totaling 12 kills and also getting five aces.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Lady Eagles lost a tough match at Petrolia on Friday night.
The 2A Lady Pirates won in straight sets against the Lady Eagles.
Bellevue was coming into the match following a difficult loss against Olney earlier in the week. Playing against an even better team meant the margin for error was slimmer.
Early on, the Lady Eagles struggled in the serve-receive part of the match which hamstrung the team from consistently being able to create offense. As the match went along Bellevue got better, but unfortunately it was not enough for the team to take a set.
Petrolia won with the set scores being 25-15, 25-18 and 25-22.
Missing scores
The Bowie News did not receive scores from Gold-Burg and Prairie Valley’s matches from Friday.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from the Saint Jo vs Nocona game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6869053&T=1
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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