Lady Blues run through first half of district unbeaten

The Graham Lady Blues earned a key win at home Friday against a much-improved Vernon team from a year ago. The Lady Blues took all three sets over the Lady Lions 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-13) to remain undefeated in District 6-4A and sit alone in first place with four games left in the regular season schedule.

Even though Graham lost seven seniors from a team that featured Jasmine Sims and Alyssa Hutcheson in 2017, head coach Marci Faulk has been able to reload and be the front-runner again in 6-4A.

“With so many new faces on the floor, I wasn’t sure how they would handle the pressure of district,” Faulk said. “I think they understand the importance of these matches so that has definitely been exciting for me to witness.”

The Lady Blues return to the floor Friday against second-place Iowa Park at home. The Lady Hawks made things difficult at times back on Sept. 25 in the district opener, giving the Lady Blues their only set loss in league action in nearly two years. The game this Friday will be the annual “Pink Out” game for the Lady Blues as the team will pay tribute to the David Sanders family. Raffle and auction items will be available to bid on throughout the game. Some of the items include a TCU basket with four TCU/Kansas State football tickets, another TCU basket with two tickets to the Kansas State game, a Texas Tech basket with tickets to a basketball game in Lubbock, a University of Arkansas basket with 3 tickets to a UA football game, four tickets to a Texas Rangers game in 2019, a Graham Steers/Lady Blues basket, health and beauty basket, a Pink YETI 35-quart cooler filled with goodies, two rounds of golf at the Graham Country Club and much more.

Vernon challenged the Lady Blues in the first set point-for-point. Outside hitter Reianna Dixon’s ace allowed the Lady Lions to even the score at 13 midway through the opening set before the Lady Blues went on a run of their own. Graham sophomore Hannah Isom tallied one of her team-high four blocks to give her team a 16-13 advantage. Vernon got as close as 18-17 before sophomore defensive specialist Morgan Patterson dialed a service ace for a 20-17 lead. With sophomore libero Reese Echols at the service line, the Lady Blues took the set 25-20.

The second set started off the same as the fi...

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