SPORTS
County athletes named all-state
Three county athletes were named to the Texas Girls Coaches Association all-state volleyball teams.
Charity Brawner and Bailey Melton from Saint Jo and Averee Kleinhans from Nocona were selected from Montague County as each player helped their teams and programs push farther than they have in recent memory.
Both seniors, Brawner and Melton helped push the Lady Panther’s volleyball program to the regional quarterfinals last year and all the way to the regional finals this year. As only a sophomore, Kleinhans helped the Lady Indians to the regional quarterfinals for the first time since 2013.
All three players shined in their positional roles, but were versatile enough defensively to never come off the court and play in the back rows.
Brawner was a setter and was named her district’s most valuable player, but she was more than a setter. She blocked in the front row, played defense in the back, could attack with spikes, employed aggressive dump sets and varied her sets among five different attackers to keep defenses off balance.
Kleinhans also was named her district’s most valuable player. As an outside hitter, she was an attacker that never stopped coming. She varied up her spikes enough from hard hits, aimed hits and tips that made her unpredictable. Besides that, she also easily led her team in digs, employed a hard hitting jump serve and was the emotional heart of the team that was up when she was up.
Melton was a middle blocker and was named the offensive most valuable player of her district. Standing 5-foot-10-inches, she was the size Saint Jo needed to not get dwarfed at the net against bigger teams. She was offensively a trump card after steady doses of outside hits from her teammates. Her size also allowed her to block and was good enough to play in the back row.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
In its first match since last year’s state semifinal appearance, Saint Jo hosted Bryson Aug. 11 and took a 25-13, 25-12, 25-21 win over the Cowgirls.
The Lady Panthers lost some talent to graduation but have five seniors ready to have a successful season. Savannah Hil, one of the five, got Saint Jo rolling offensively with a four-point serving string, including a pair of aces. Abby Carter’s kill and Kamron Skidmore’s block helped put the Lady Panthers up 5-2 in game one.
Hadleigh Moore added a four-point string of her own to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatum Morman’s pair, helped by a Hill kill, gave Saint Jo a 14-5 lead. Bryson got within five before a Hill 3-pointer, with help by a Carter kill, put the lead back at 18-10.
After an Olivia Johnson kill broke serve, Jordyn O’Neal served up the final five points, with Johnson providing a kill to move things along.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Despite being the smallest school in the Brock varsity classic volleyball tournament, the Lady Indians finished 4th out of the eight teams there.
After losing to the host team in its first pool play match Aug. 14 18-25, 14-25 and also to Class 3A Wall 12-25, 8-25, Nocona rebounded to close out pool play with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Christoval. Sy Parker had 16 kills and 7 blocks in the three matches. Raylea Bowles had 12 kills, 17 digs and served up three aces. Maddyn Bowles had seven kills and 14 digs while Paige Davis had seven kills and 15 digs. Baylee Thomas added 11 digs.
From the setter spot, Kasi Castro had 20 assists, served up five aces and contributed 14 digs. Leah Meekins added 18 assists and six digs during the three matches.
To open Saturday’s bracket play, the Lady Indians posted a 25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19 win over Fort Worth Christian. Castro staked Nocona to a 2-0 lead in game one. Kills by Parker set up pairs of points from Raylea Bowles and Leah Meekins helped Nocona negate an early deficit and take a 10-9 lead.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
County football teams had their first scrimmage of the season Aug. 14 with mixed results.
Forestburg hosted Azle Christian and Victory Christian. Under a new system with new head coach Cori Hayes, the Longhorns looked pretty good in the coach’s eye.
“The first team looked good,” Hayes explained. “Overall we need to work on our pace and blocking assignments and blocking assignments. Overall we looked good for the new regime.”
Forestburg hits the road to scrimmage Newcastle Aug. 21.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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