Lady Tigers Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

LATEXO – Playoff aspirations for two area volleyball teams were on the line Tuesday night in Latexo as the Lady Tigers took on the Grapeland Sandiettes. The Lady Tigers were in need of a victory to keep their slim playoff chances alive while the Sandiettes were clinging to hopes for the fourth seed out of District 22-2A.

The match started with the Lady Tigers dominating the opening set as they won it by a score of 25-9. While the Sandiettes’ play improved somewhat in the second set, it also went to the home team by a count of 25-14.

In danger of being sweplatexo-vb-blockt out of the Latexo gym, the Sandiettes managed to re-group in set three and won by a score of 25-19, which forced a fourth set.

In that set, the two teams stayed even in the early going. With the score knotted at 10, Latexo Head Coach Katie Brown called a timeout. The strategy discussed during the TO seemed to work as the Lady Tigers went on an 8-1 run and captured a lead they would not lose.

The Sandiettes managed to trim the lead to five as the score reached 20-15. A huge block at the net by the Lady Tigers, followed by a service ace pushed the Latexo lead out to 24-17 and while Grapeland was able to trim it back to four at 24-20, the Lady Tigers were simply too much for the Sandiettes as they fell in the fourth set by a score of 25-20.

Following the match, Coach Brown discussed her team’s performance. “We came in and we knew we had to take care of business on our side of the court. We couldn’t worry about anything else.”

As far grapeland-vb-spikeas how the Lady Tigers were able to turn around a 3-1 loss to Grapeland earlier this season to a 3-1 victory for Latexo, the coach explained, “We focused on what we needed to work. We focused on our hits, our passes and our sets. We knew that if we focused on the little details, the big details would take care of themselves.”

The Lady Tigers faced the Normangee Lady Panthers on Friday in another must win game, but as of press time the score was not available. On Tuesday, Oct. 25, Latexo is scheduled to play the number one ranked team in Class 2A, the Iola Bulldogs. To make the playoffs, Latexo will need to win against both Normangee and Iola and hope for a Grapeland loss.

The Sandiettes played the Centerville Lady Tigers on Friday, but as of press time the score was not available. On Tuesday, Oct. 25 Grapeland is scheduled to play the North Lady Bulldogs.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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