The Bowie Lady Rabbits hosted state ranked Bridgeport on Tuesday in a match they knew would be tough.
Despite the first two sets being close, the Lady Rabbits ran out of gas as they lost 3-1.
The Sissies came in ranked 20th in the state in 4A and had some history with Bowie this season. The Lady Rabbits beat Bridgeport twice at the Godley Tournament back at the end of August when the Sissies were ranked among the top five in the state and had only lost one match previously.
The atmosphere was great as the student section was dressed in some sort of luau theme to help cheer Bowie to victory against Bridgeport for the third time this season.
The first set started well for the Lady Rabbits. They slowly built a subtle 9-6 lead, but the Sissies tied the score at 10-10 and neither team got that type of lead for the rest of the set.
It went back and forth between the two teams as both teams serve-receive and net game were major factors. With Bridgeport having two girls listed at six feet or taller, Bowie knew it would have to challenge them at the net or face some powerful spikes hit down at them.
The Lady Rabbits took a narrow 23-22 lead, but unfortunately the Sissies won the next three points to take the first set 25-23.
Bowie did not start the second set well. After neither team trailed by more than three points in the first set, the Lady Rabbits were down 7-3 early.
Bowie charged back to make the set close and eventually tied the score at 15-15.
After gaining a little bit of a lead for the first time all set 18-17, the Lady Rabbits won seven of the next eight points to close out the set and win 25-18.
After losing a set it should have won and easily closing out the second set, Bowie was feeling good about its chances to win the match if it could carry that momentum forward.
Quickly the Lady Rabbits realized they could not. An innocent 3-2 lead from Bridgeport quickly turned into 13-2 before anyone knew what was happening.
The blocks from Bowie and solid back row play went away. The serve-receive action was a mess. Rallies bounced the Sissies way. Nothing was working.
The Lady Rabbits tried to salvage as much as they could from the rest of the set. The teams played the final points almost even with Bridgeport only holding a 12-11 lead, but the play in the beginning of the set hung over the proceedings as the Sissies won 25-13.
Bowie needed to win the fourth set if it wanted a chance to win the match in the fifth set, but shaking off the memory of the first 15 points from the last set was going to be a mental challenge.
The opening points looked like the Lady Rabbits might be up to the challenge. Bowie held a 6-4 lead after 10 points. Unfortunately, Bridgeport took the lead 11-9 and never looked back. Still leading by a small margin 19-16, the Sissies won six of the next nine points to win the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.

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