LADY LEOPARDS TAKE DOWN REDWATER,
Liberty-Eylau experienced a couple of lulls but fought back to topple Redwater, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-9, Friday at the Rader Dome.
The Lady Leopards went cold at the end of the second set, allowing the Lady Dragons to tie the match, and then slowed down again with an 11-point lead in the third set before fending off the visitors. L-E wouldn’t allow the downswing in the fourth set, turning an 11-5 lead into 18-5.
Tied 9-9 in the first set, the Leopards scored 4 of 5 to go up 13-10. Redwater came right back to take an 18-14 lead, and the home team scored six straight to regain the lead. The score was tied again at 22-all, the Dragons scored the next point before Liberty-Eylau closed out the set with three in a row.
“How can I not be proud (of how they performed), as a coach,” Liberty-Eylau coach LaTasha Harris said. “Each day in practice we work on the things that we need to improve upon, and they come out the next game and you can see the improvement. You can’t ask for anything more, and I’m just proud that they didn’t let that lull take over.
“This is a new team: they’re bigger, better, strong and faster, and they;re excited which means I’m excited.”
In the second set the Dragons jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and L-E scored 8 of 9 to go up 8-6. The score was tied at 11, 13, 18 and 20, but Redwater took 6 of the final 8 points to secure the set.
The Leopards responded by building a 13-4 lead in the third and led by double digits at 16-6. The lead was 11 at 19-8, when the Dragons grabbed
the momentum.
Redwater scored four straight and 10 of 13 to cut the deficit to 22-18, but Liberty-Eylau held on for the win.
“It takes a team to win, and when we have players not playing to their fullest potential, that hurts the team,” Redwater coach Ocie Hanes said. “We’ve got to overcome that for the future.”
L-E took a 6-1 lead in the fourth, pulled ahead 11-4 and 18-5. The Leopards scored 5 of the last 6 to close out the match.
Derrica Henderson had 16 points and five blocks for Liberty-Eylau, Keeley Norris swatted 10 kills, Amoyia Gentry served 11 and put down seven digs, and Daycoria Meadows had five blocks and 10 assists. Kelly Cigainero had 15 assists and six points, Kaliyah Thompson added 11 points, and Taylor Crabtree had 15 digs and seven points.
Bailey O’Bannon led the Dragons with six kills, five blocks and 10 points. Karlee Carmony added six kills,
Karley Morrow had 10 service winners, and Bethanee Calicott had eight assists. Ally Walston had 13 digs, and Bella Fernandez added 10 digs.
Redwater will be back in action in the Hughes Springs tournament today.