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No. 16 Graham slugs way to sweep over Jacksboro

Fri, 09/07/2018 - 10:29 am
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    Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk appreciates her team’s performance along with players, l-r, Hannah Isom, Sierra Morris, Celeste Aguirre and Meredith Armstrong during the second set of Tuesday’s sweep over Jacksboro at Graham High School gym. The Lady Blues host Bridgeport today at 4:30 p.m.. Leader photo by Travis Martinez
sports@grahamleader.com

Tuesday evening’s non-district match between the Graham Lady Blues and the Jacksboro Tigerettes features many of the things expected in a great volleyball contest: hard attacks, well-timed blocks, beautiful service aces and a crowded gymnasium.

But it also featured plenty of hitting errors and communication mistakes that are often found early in the season.

And in the end, the host Lady Blues had more of the former and less of the latter to prevail in a 3-0, (25-18, 25-19, 25-23) sweep over the Tigerettes.

Coming off a 5-1 weekend at the Whitney Tournament, Graham head coach Marci Faulk was a little disappointed in the overall performance of her team after a great two-day tournament on the road.

“It’s a bit frustrating after we came off a very successful weekend of play and not able to carry that momentum into tonight,” said Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk. “I wanted to see my team do what they did over the weekend and turn that into a clean match tonight and when we don’t came out and perform like we are capable is disappointing.”

The 16th-ranked Lady Blues were pushed to the limit in each of the three sets by a much improved Jacksboro team. The Tigerettes held a late lead in the last two sets but were unable to provide the final knockout, leading to defeat.

Graham started strong in the first set by building a 4-1 lead off a kill by senior outside hitter Celeste Aguirre. However, Jacksboro fought back to tie the set at 13 with two straight kills from Trinity Tisdale and Leah Plaster.

The Lady Blues closed the stanza on a 12-5 run, in which junior outside hitter Alex Husen provided a kill and a tip at the net to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

With senior Avery Iles serving to begin set two, Graham created a 8-3 advantage. Sophomore libero Reese Echols rolled an ace and senior middle blocker Emma Ranger had a kill in the stretch. 

The Tigerettes battled from behind to eventually grab leads of 16-15 and 19-18. Playing off the energy from the home crowd, the Lady Blues showed their toughness and closed the set on a 7-0 run to grab a 2-0 lead in the match.

Despite a tough loss in the first two sets. The Tigerettes would not go quietly. The Lady Blues played from behind for the majority of the third set. Jacksboro created a lead of ....

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