Lady Tigers come up short against Carthage

Texas High had signs of rallying throughout the match, but seventh-ranked Carthage limited the Lady Tigers’ runs.

With both teams starting their respective district play next week, the Lady Bulldogs were able to pull away late in the first and second sets and then never let THS mount a comeback bid in the third, Carthage sweeping the varsity volleyball match, 25-18, 25-21, 25-14, Tuesday at Tiger Center.

“We were missing a couple of players tonight; we had a kid get hurt and she’ll be out for three weeks,” Lady Tigers head coach Melissa Hardy said. “They played pretty well tonight with the changes in the lineup.

“Overall, they played hard, they hustled and kept us in the game. They never gave up. We played better tonight than we have in the past, and that’s what we’re working towards. We’ve got a couple more before district starts; we just need to keep building.”

Texas High put together a five-point rally in the opener to go up 9-7, but the home team was able to score consecutive points just one other time in the first set.

The Bulldogs tied the score at 10 to start a 7-2 run and, after the Tigers closed the gap at 17-15, scored four in a row.

The second set saw 11 tie scores — the last at 19-all — as Texas High settled in against Carthage. However,

the visitors broke the final tie and rattled off five straight points to gain set point (24-19). THS scored two more before a hitting error sent the set to the Bulldogs.

Carthage’s second server of the third set staked the Bulldogs to a 7-2 lead, the teams traded point for point over the next 10 — then swapped 3-point runs. With the differential still teetering between 4-5 points at 18-14, Carthage scored the next seven to complete the victory.

Cami Hicks paced the Bulldogs with 10 kills and four blocks, McKenna Zett served 10 points, had seven kills and 13 digs, and Chesney Baker added 12 digs.

Olivia Lower served 11 points and contributed 11 digs and 11 kills for the Tigers. Bella Cherry and Logan Pilgreen had 11 assists apiece.

Carthage won the junior varsity match, 25-23, 25-22. Alex Reed led THS with 17 points. The Bulldog freshmen won, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20. Anna Shults had 17 winners for Texas High.