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Lady Blues defeat Lady Lions in Vernon

Tue, 10/08/2019 - 11:42 am
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    Hannah Isom attempts a kill during the Lady Blues’ 3-0 victory in Vernon on Oct. 4. The Lady Blues will travel to Iowa Park on Oct. 11. Leader photo by Mike Williams
sports@grahamleader.com

It was not always as pretty as the match should have been; however, the Lady Blues walked away with a straight-set victory over Vernon 25-21, 25-16, 25-23 on Oct. 4. 

The Lady Blues have a problem with playing down to their opponents this season. That was shown at times during the first road game in district play.

The Lady Lions took a 3-1 lead early in the opening set. Two of those points were due to mistakes made by the Lady Blues. The Lady Blues played aggressively, however, the aggressive play came back to haunt the Lady Blues several times in the match with several shots sailing out of bounds. The Lady Lions scored eight points from out of bounds calls against the Lady Blues in the first set. Shay Williams gave the Lady Blues fits from the serving line and scored on several aces in the set and the entire match. 

“Her (Williams) serve has a strong topspin,” Lady Blues coach Marci Faulk said. “We certainly had problems returning them.”

Williams allowed for the Lady Lions to stay close in the set. The Lady Blues could not extend the lead beyond two points for a majority of the opening set. With the score tied at 12-12, Addison Kimberling scored on a kill to spark a 9-3 scoring run to force the first timeout of the night by the Lady Lions. The Lady Blues were outscored 6-4 after the timeout, but took the set 25-21 with kills from Hannah Isom, Britain Thayer and Kimberling. 

The second set was tightly contested. Several shots flying out of bounds  kept the Lady Blues from running away and allowed the Lady Lions to stay close. With the score tied at 8-8, the Lady Blues slowly get out front. After kills from Isom and Marilyn Milton, Aubrey Iles scored on an ace to induce another Lady Lion timeout at 7-13 in favor of the Lady Blues. Out of the timeout, the Lady Blues went on an 8-3 run. The Lady Blues’ aggressive play worked in their favor as four of the eight points were given from out of bounds calls against the Lady Lions. 

In the third set, the Lady Blues finally had the quick start they were wanting. Behind five straight Lady Blues’ kill, the visitors took an early 6-2 lead forcing a quick timeout by the Lady Lions. Out of the timeout, the Lady Blues extended their lead to 11-4 and it looked as if they were going to run away with the set.

Behind two kills and two aces by Williams, the Lady Lions took advantage of mistakes by the Lady Blues to bring the deficit to three at 15-12. The Lady Blues fought back to extend the lead to five at 20-15. The Lady Lions quickly tied the set at 20-20 behind two kills and two aces by Williams. Faulk called a timeout. “My girls needed to be reminded that they were not playing at the level we expect,” Faulk said. “We are better than what we were showing out there.”

 

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 9 edition of The Graham Leader.