Gilmer sweeps Lady Leopards in district clash

TEXARKANA, Texas — LibertyEylau and Gilmer battled in a match that pitted experience against youth.

The experienced Gilmer team prevailed with a 25-23, 25-17, 25-14 sweep over a young Liberty-Eylau squad in a District 15-4A volleyball match at the Rader Dome on Tuesday.

“Our effort has gotten better,” LibertyEylau head coach Lacey Middlebrooks said. “We have a young team right now with a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Our biggest thing has been to give effort during the entire match. The girls played cleaner. It’s a process.

“We have to work from the positives, go to practice and get better. The effort has been a lot better than it was earlier in the season. We want to keep moving forward and learn from our errors. We are going to take what we learn and apply it to the next match.”

The third set had just three ties at 1, 2 and 6-all. The Lady Buckeyes outscored the Leopards, 9-2, over the last 11 points of the set.

Alyssa Fulton took the serve for Liberty-Eylau with her team up 3-1 in the second set. After a pair of Gilmer hitting errors, the Leopards took a 5-1 lead. The first tie of the set came when the Buckeyes battled back to knot it at 5-all. There were eight ties at 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16-all.

Gilmer took serve up 19-17. The Buckeyes put up six consecutive points to win the set.

Liberty-Eylau faced an eight-point deficit in the first set, down 12-4. The Leopards methodically inched closer to Gilmer as they outscored the Buckeyes 17-9 to tie the set at 21-all.

Ja’Niya Sanders hit a kill down the right baseline to give L-E a 22-21 lead. Gilmer outscored the Leopards, 4-1, down the stretch to clinch to first set. The first set was the most competitive set and featured five ties at 1, 2, 4, 21 and 22-all.

Breanna Webster had seven kills and four blocks for Liberty-Eylau, while teammate Tamara Norris had seven kills and five digs. Sanders finished with a team-high 10 kills and added three blocks.

Kayla Crabtree had a team-high seven digs, while teammate Haven Johnson paced the Leopards with 19 set assists.

Staff photo by Kelsi Brinkmeyer ■ Liberty-Eylau players Ja'Niya Sanders and Myah Hurd block the ball from going over the net at their game against Gilmer on Tuesday at Rader Dome.