After two scrimmages and three days of practice, the Nocona Lady Indians opened up the season Tuesday night with a dual at home against Iowa Park and Gunter in back-to-back games.
Four hours of intense volleyball later, the Lady Indians came away with a 2-0 record to start the season with good tests in both games.
The first match was against Iowa Park. After falling behind 14-11 in the first set, Nocona was able to grab momentum and end up winning the set 25-20.
The second set was a tight back and forth affair, with the score tied 20-20. Unfortunately, Iowa Park was able to grab control and win the second set 25-21 to tie up the game.
The Lady Indians were able to build a big 14-6 lead midway through the third set and was able to close things out, winning by a huge 25-11 margin. After playing close early in the fourth set, Nocona was able to grab a narrow 14-11 lead midway through. They were able to keep that lead for the rest of the set as they closed out the match, winning 25-22 and 3-1 overall.
Coach Tiffany Clay liked her team’s mindset against Iowa Park.
“I thought in the Iowa Park game we remained aggressive on the net and at the service line,” Clay said.
Averee Kleinhans led the team with 13 kills and two blocks while Trystin Fenoglio led the team with 15 assists. Ella Nunnely also had two blocks and was second with 11 kills.
The Lady Indians did not have much time to bask in their first win of the season as they next played Gunter.
The first set was close for most of it, with neither team building more than a two point lead. With Nocona leading 18-17, they were able to close the door on Gunter and finish the set on a 7-2 run to win 25-19.
Midway through the second set, The Lady Indians found themselves down 12-8. They clawed their way back and took a 21-19 lead and eventually were one point away 24-22 from taking a two set lead. Gunter came back and the teams were tied at 25-25.
Both teams had several chances to win the set as they went back and forth. Nocona was able to pull off the 31-29 win to put them up 2-0 and only needing to win one more.
After contentious extra point sets, the following set usually has a tough time being as competitive. Either the team who won loses some intensity because of the relief they got out of winning the previous set or the team that lost gives up a bit of hope of winning the match overall and completely loses all fire.
Neither of those things happened Tuesday in Nocona. The Lady Indians looked like they might be able to run away with the set as they built a solid 15-10 lead, but Gunter was not going to go away quietly. They were able to come back and tie the score 16-16, with the rest of the set playing out competitively.
With the score tied 22-22, the set could go either way. Unfortunately for Nocona, Gunter was able to get just enough momentum to win the third set 25-23 and extend the match.
The fourth set was similar to the previous set. Each team had three point leads at times, but the score would always come back to competitive balance.
The score was tied again at 16-16 and 22-22, with the set up to going either teams way.
The Lady Indians found themselves one point away from winning the set and match, up 25-24. Unfortunately, Gunter was able to win the next three points to win the set 27-25 and force a fifth and final set.
Fatigue had started to set in by then. Players such as Kleinhans, Rachel Patrick and Laramie Hayes had hardly gotten a break in the eight sets played that night and uncharacteristic mistakes started to show up more than they had before in the fourth set.
With the fifth set making it a winner-take-all, Nocona would have to fight through it to get the win.
They got a break from new player Ella Nunnely, whose jump serve proved difficult for the Gunter players to deal with.
The Lady Indians scored seven straight points with the help of Nunnely’s serving to give them a big lead and get them almost halfway to the 15 points they needed to win.
Even after Gunter finally broke the serve, Nocona still had the momentum and a big 10-2 lead, with every thinking it would only be a matter of time before they would win.
Gunter fought back and outscored the Lady Indians the rest of the way, but Nocona was able to hold on to win 15-9 and the match 3-2.

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