SPORTS
Prairie Valley wins bi-district match in thrilling fashion
The Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs survived a battle for their volleyball lives on Tuesday night against Vernon Northside in the bi-district playoff game.
The Lady Bulldogs nearly saw the Lady Indians come back to steal the match before narrowly winning the five-set thriller to continue their season.
Prairie Valley came into the game confident as the higher two seed playing Vernon Northside. This Lady Bulldogs group had won their bi-district playoff match each of the past three seasons, usually with little trouble.
The Lady Indians would prove to be a different breed, being in a district with top-ranked Harrold and a solid Crowell team they narrowly took the second seed from.
The first set was the most lopsided of the match even if the opening 20 points were competitive. Prairie Valley led 11-9 before busting out on a 7-3 run to go up 18-12. The Lady Bulldogs were able to cruise to an easy 25-16 win as they were playing good and getting the result they expected.
The second set saw Prairie Valley start behind a little at 6-4 before going on a great run in the middle of the set to break it open again. The Lady Bulldogs went 12-0 to go up 16-6 and it looked like Prairie Valley was going to be able to coast again to the end.
Northside then started to show a peak of what was to come. The Lady Indians rallied, making the Lady Bulldogs sweat a bit more than they would have liked trying to close out the set.
Prairie Valley still won with a little wiggle room 25-20 and were up 2-0, but Northside played better down the stretch and used that momentum in set three.
Initially the Lady Indians took the early lead, but the Lady Bulldogs tied the score at 10-10. Then Northside went on a 7-3 run and were able to keep that distance until the end of the set as it won 25-21 to extend the match.
Set four was similar at the start. Early leads from the Lady Indians fell away when Prairie Valley caught back up or tied the score, but could not grab control.
With the Lady Bulldogs down only 18-17 heading into the end game, it was Northside that closed the set well. The Lady Indians went on a 4-1 run to open up a 22-18 lead before ultimately winning 25-20 to tie the match.
There was a lot of frustration in the air. While Prairie Valley had lost the two previous sets in competitive fashion, there were plenty of aspects where the team seemed to be fading while Northside was growing in confidence.
The Lady Bulldogs were content to use their superior ball control at times to outpatient the Lady Indians in long rallies. While Prairie Valley had many good plays at the net, several blocks by the overall bigger frontline from Northside seemed to make the Lady Bulldogs more hesitant to hit the ball hard and instead tried to tactfully tip the ball more often then not.
This made points hard to come by and every long rally that did not end up going Prairie Valley’s way in sets three and four sting that much more.
It all had a sinking feeling to it from the Lady Bulldogs perspective as Northside came back and got more confident hitting the ball hard at the net, picking up the tipped balls better and just having the ball bounce its way more and more.
Prairie Valley also got dealt a blow as front line player Abbie Pepper went down with an ankle injury during this time and the Lady Bulldogs had to change rotations on the fly.
With the world falling in around Prairie Valley, the match entered the fifth set.
Thankfully, fifth sets can sometimes be its own entity, separate from the sets that came before. With the stakes winner-take-all and the set played only to 15 instead of 25, every point won and every lead gets multiplied in everyone’s gut tenfold.
That is why when the Lady Bulldogs started the fifth set down 4-0, it seemed like the end was near for this group that feature five senior starters. Still down four points a short time later 6-2, Prairie Valley found a way to come back and won the next five points to take the lead 7-6.
It was game on from there as the teams traded points back-and-forth. Tied at 11-11, it was there when the Lady Bulldogs broke the cycle and won two straight points to take a 13-11 lead.
That opening would be enough as Prairie Valley seized it and won two of the next three points to win the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
For more pictures from the match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870376&T=1
Saint Jo hosted its own volleyball tournament Sept. 10-12.
In its first match, the Lady Panthers bested Sam Rayburn in a b est-of-three match 2-1 (25-11, 23-25, 25-14.) In the opener, senior Tatum Morman staked the Lady Panthers to a 4-0 lead with help from Kamron Skidmore and Olivia Johnson kills. The Lady Rebels would come back and tie the game at seven.
Savannah Hill’s kill broke serve and allowed Abby Carter to string together seven points. An ace and a Hill kill helped keep the drive alive. Hill later rolled off six points in a row, helped by two aces, to go up 23-10. Sam Rayburn broke serve but Saint Jo finished the game with a single Morman point.
Sam Rayburn came right out of the gate firing in the second game leading 4-0. A single Carter point, thrown down by a Hill block, and Hill’s four-point skein put the Lady Panthers up 8-6. Sam Rayburn tied the game at eight.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Forestburg’s volleyball team gave visiting Chico a solid test Sept. 8, but the Lady Dragons rebounded from a third-set loss to pull out the 3-1 win (25-23, 25-19, 25-27, 25-19).
The Lady Longhorns got out to a quick start with aces from freshmen Madi Wadsworth and Lacie Shotwell staking the squad to a 4-1 lead in game one. Wadsworth later broke a 4-all tie with a kill.
Addy Conway rolled off four straight points, helped by a Wadsworth kill to give Forestburg an 11-9 lead. Chico took a 16-14 lead but a Brenna Briles ace and Jocelyn Rich’s two points forced Chico into a timeout down 17-19.
The respite worked as it would be Forestburg’s last lead of game one, the Lady ‘Horns not having another serving point.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
After splitting the first two games with Vernon Northside, Bowie’s volleyball team turned things out and wound with a 3-1 match win (25-17, 15-25, 25-17, 25-17).
Molly Enlow used two aces amidst a four-point string to give the Lady Rabbits a 5-1 lead in game one. Senior KP Rutherford’s pair of points extended the lead to 8-3.
Northside cut the deficit to 10-11 before Rutherford’s kill broke serve.
Bella Culwell’s point, aided by an Ellie Mowery kill, put Bowie up 13-10. Northside tied the game at 13 before Rutherford came through with another pair for a 17-14 lead. Lillie Maddox also had a deuce for a 20-15 lead and force a Lady INdian timeout.
Northside broke serve but a Sophie Maddox block and Lillie Maddox three-point string gave the squad game point at 24-16. The squads exchanged side outs to end the game.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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