Lady Blues defeat Krum, advance to regional quarterfinals
After the Lady Blues' victory over Gatesville in the bi-district championship coach Marci Faulk said it would take a near-perfect effort against Krum. A near-perfect effort is what she received as the Lady Blues defeated Krum 3-1 to advance to the regional quarterfinals for the first time since 2017.
The Lady Blues gained confidence early in their rematch from the 2019 area championships by jumping ahead 9-4 and forcing the Lady Cats into an early timeout. They held a lead of five or more points for a majority of the set. A 25-19 win gave the Lady Blues the lead in the match and confidence that carried into the rest of the night.
"I think when we jumped on them early was huge for our confidence," Faulk said. "We got the middles involved early and that gave us a lot of options on our attacks."
The Lady Blues recovered quickly as the Lady Cats jumped to an early 12-8 lead. The second set was a closely contested affair that required 27 points from the Lady Blues to win.
In the third set, the Lady Cats controlled the middle portions to maintain the lead and keep their season alive. They led 17-12 when Coach Faulk called a timeout to try and kill momentum. The stoppage did little to help the Lady Blues as the Lady Cats continued on a 4-1 run before a second timeout was called at 21-13 in favor of the Lady Cats. Krum kept their season alive for one more set with a 25-17 win.
The Lady Blues jumped ahead early in the fourth and never looked back. They took a 10-4 advantage early and maintained throughout. The Lady Blues took the set 25-22 for their first area championship win since 2017.
Tuesday's win sets up a rematch against Stephenville in the regional quarterfinals Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Mineral Wells. When the two teams last met, on Aug. 18, the Lady Blues lost 3-0.
Due to press time limitations, the full story from the win against Krum will appear in this weekend's edition of The Graham Leader. The full match story for the regional quarterfinals will appear in the Nov. 11 edition of The Graham Leader.
