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(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Madison Cauble, left, and Emily Hughes, right, go up for a block Friday, Sept. 12. The Lady Blues defeated the Lady Leopards in three sets during the game. -
(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Hadleigh Allen swings at a ball for a serve Friday, Sept. 12. Allen is one of the team's primary setters but aided the team in set two at the service line. -
(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Kaden Atwood sets up a serve receive attempt Friday, Sept. 12. Atwood is the defensive anchor of the team and helped the Lady Blues pick up their first point of the evening after a dig. -
(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Emily Hughes swats at a ball for a kill Friday, Sept. 12. Hughes was one of the most pivotal offensive players in the Lady Blues three set win over the Lady Leopards. -
(ALEX HAVARDANKSY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Kya Cooper sets a ball Friday, Sept. 12. Cooper has proven to be the team’s primary setter but also has sneaky power in the front row.
The Lady Blues found themselves in a wild ride this past weekend against Legacy High School. However, Graham ultimately picked up the three-set victory over the Lady Leopards.
This was a match that Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk described as purely driven off of momentum.
“I don’t know who had the bigger momentum swings, us or them,” Faulk said. “There were definitely momentum swings.”
Kaden Atwood got things started off in set one with a solid dig which led to a Graham point, giving them the early lead.
Eventually, that 1-0 lead jumped out to a 5-0 lead with Kya Cooper continuing to be a foundational piece at the service line.
Katy McGehee and Tara Dawson continued to make their marks offensively with McGehee picking up a point and Dawson picking up a kill to give Graham an 8-2 lead.
Madison Cauble picked up a point on the right side of the net, while Dawson and Hadleigh Allen teamed up for a pair of nice digs which ultimately lead to the score being 18-11 Graham.
The Lady Leopards fought back and took the lead in this set but McGehee and Cooper teamed up for a block to tie the score at 19.
Graham eventually pulled out the set one victory 25-22.
Graham started the second set off slow trailing 4-0 and eventually 9-5. That’s when Allen went to work at the service line.
Allen rattled off point after point to eventually help the Lady Blues out to a 12-9 lead. However, Graham eventually trailed once again.
The team got down so much as to trail in the second set 24-16, one point away from losing. The team didn’t give up though.
After picking up three straight points to make it 24-19, Emily Hughes came through with a block at center net to bring the game to within four.
The team continued to rally off of that with plays such as Rylee Moore’s kill to make it a one point game 24-23.
Dawson tipped a ball on the left side of the net to tie it and Cooper set a ball for Hughes to take the lead 25-24.
After a quick fight from the Lady Leopards, a kill and another tip from Dawson ended the set with a thrilling 27-25 win.
Coming into set three, the team from Graham was hoping the energy would translate. Things didn’t get off to an ideal start though as the team started down 10-3.
That’s when Hughes picked up a kill to spark the crowd 10-4. Two plays later Hughes and Allen teamed up for a block to make it 10-6 Legacy High.
Cooper and Moore followed with their own block to make it 10-7, followed by Cooper and Dawson to make it a two point game.
After pulling it to one, Dawson tied it at 10 with a block and the teams fought back and forth for the remainder of things.
It was tied 24 all, 26 all and 27 all in the later portions, but a block and a point helped the Lady Blues pull out a momentous match win 30-28 in set three.
After playing Tuesday, Sept. 16 against Abilene Christian, the team picks things up again Friday, Sept. 19, for a match at home against Memorial High at 4:30 p.m.
