Lady Blues win bi-district championship, defeat Gatesville Lady Hornets

Tuesday’s bi-district playoff was a culmination of three months of growth. The Lady Blues’ growth as players and growth as a team was on display Tuesday night as the team defeated Gatesville 25-23, 20-25, 25-19, 26-24. The Lady Blues have won their bi-district match for seven consecutive seasons.

The Lady Blues met the Gatesville Lady Hornets Tuesday night in Joshua. It was a meeting between the second-place finisher (Lady Blues) in 5-4A and third-place finisher in 6-4A (Lady Hornets). The Lady Hornets finished third, behind Stephenville and Glen Rose.

As to be expected, the match was a constant battle. The Lady Blues had to contend with junior outside hitter Kaleigh Haywood, who made the match difficult with her strong swings. In the opening game alone, Haywood had six kills, including a span of four kills in six rallies to help the Lady Hornets take an early lead.

Serving proved to be critical for the Lady Blues in the opening set and throughout the match to make it difficult on the Lady Hornets’ setters. Senior Rachel Grimsley took serve with the Lady Blues trailing 10-13. Despite the close score, momentum seemed to be in Gatesville’s favor. Grimsley served six-straight points to give the Lady Blues a 16-13 lead. A three-point lead was the largest lead by either team in the game. The Lady Hornets drew even again at 22-22. Olga Morales broke the tie at 23-22. Lady Hornets sophomore Charlee Barron earned a kill to tie the match again at 23-23. Back-to-back errors by the Lady Hornets gave the Lady Blues the first win of the match.

For the rest of the story, see the Nov. 10 edition of The Graham Leader.