Decatur junior high ends regular season in second place
MANSFIELD — It has been a wild ride this season for the Decatur Lady Bulldogs junior high A and B teams which posted one of their best seasons since the young volleyball program launched in 2016. But the young teams had one hurdle ahead of them, the Friday night season finale with the Life Way Lady Warriors in Centerton.
For the first time this season, the Lady Bulldog B team was restricted to a 30-minute time limit. This did not affect the Decatur B team in the least. The team was ready for action. The Lady Bulldogs B took that set, 25-8
The second set came down to no time left on the clock, and the Lady Warriors were up by two, 24-22. At this point, it was decided by both coaches and officials to continue the match for at least five minutes. So the contest continued with the Lady Bulldogs B taking the first point and trailing by one with set point favoring Life Way.
A long volley by both teams and a missed ball by Decatur gave Life Way the second set, 25-23, and both teams walked away from the final match of the season with a tie.
The real star of the night was the Decatur junior high A team. At stake were one final regular season win and a good seed in the 2A West district tournament.
For the young team of mostly eighth and ninth graders, it was an uphill battle with the Lady Warriors making the Lady Bulldogs earn every point.
But the Lady Bulldog A team prevailed and went on to defeat Life Way Christian, 25-19, 25-22, to finish the 2022 regular season with only three losses.
After the match, Decatur head coach Cali Lankford gathered the junior high team together to deliver a bit of history-making news.
“You girls have finished the season as 2A West conference runnersup,” Lankford announced proudly.
With this news, the combined Decatur Junior high volleyball teams let off a big cheer.
And the good news kept on coming.
On the 15-minute bus ride back to Decatur, Lankford delivered another bit of news. The Lady Bulldogs would enter the 2A West tournament in the number two seed position, another first for the Decatur volleyball program. But there was no time to celebrate for as soon as the kids arrived at PetersonOwens Fieldhouse, it was time to go home and get a good night’s sleep (some decided to stay and watch the senior high football game instead).
Since the tournament was Saturday, there were no students at the middle and high schools. So with no fanfare, the Decatur junior high A team boarded the activity bus and departed for Mansfield at 11:30 a.m.
The team arrived about 20 minutes before the match start time. Having already dressed in Decatur, the team hit the floor at Tiger gym in Mansfield for the first contest against the Founders Academy for the third round of the junior high district tournament.
Before the Tiger announcer introduced the Lady Bulldog starting lineup, Decatur was presented with the 2A-West runners-up plague. The team gathered together, along with Lankford and assistant coach Mike Eckels for a photograph before pre-match festivities continued.
Nerves set in with the Lady Bulldogs as the Lady Spartans put eight straight points across the Decatur side of the court. Once the team posted its first point, the junior high team had to overcome a growing lead by Founders, a team that Decatur has beaten twice this season.
A quick time-out was called by Lankford as she attempted to calm her team down. Then as if a spirit whisked away the nerves, first Leslie Hernandez, then Daisy Fuentes, and soon the rest of the team settled back into winning mode.
Decatur hit the floor determined to make up lost ground. Soon the Lady Bulldogs not only caught up to the Lady Spartans; they gained the lead. The first set ended with Decatur taking the win, 25-13.
In the second set, the Lady Bulldogs came out strong, overwhelming the Lady Spartans and taking the set, 25-8, and moving on to the next round to face the host team, Mansfield Lady Tigers.
For the second time, Decatur started the match behind, which allowed the Lady Tigers a chance to build its lead by as much as eight in the early going. That all changed with Fuentes, Decatur’s strongest server, when she stepped to the line. She fired off a series of serves that caught Mansfield by surprise. And suddenly the Lady Bulldogs were back in the contest. The first set came down to a 24-24 tie. Either team could take the set point and eventually the match. A questionable call by the officials gave the set point to Mansfield, which went on to take the first set, 26-24.
Mansfield took firm control of the second set, handing Decatur a 25-19 loss and ending the team’s dream of a conference title.
The dream season was over, but not the memories of a winning team that made history by posting a Decatur volleyball record of 12 wins and three losses in the regular season and one and one in conference tournament play.
This team’s success is due, in part, to the outstanding coaching ability of Lankford and the support by Eckels and two members of the senior high team, Lindy Lee and Heaven McGarrah, and of course Jacque Smith, Decatur’s athletic director, as well as the many loyal Lady Bulldog family members and friends who came out at every match to cheer on the players and support not only the junior high but also the senior high team as well.