Lady Bulldogs end season with tourney loss

DECATUR — It was a bittersweet end to a season that saw a series of highs and lows for the Decatur Lady Bulldog varsity volleyball program. With a loss to the Life Way Lady Warriors on Oct. 14 in Centerton, the Lady Bulldogs turned their attention to the 2A West district tournament in Mulberry on Oct. 17-18.

The Lady Bulldogs picked up the sixth seed in the tournament which put them in line for a latenight contest at Yellowjacket gym in Mulberry. The question remaining was who the team would play in that contest.

Early Monday morning, word reached PetersonOwens Fieldhouse that the Lady Bulldogs would take on the number eight seed Lady Yellowjackets, the host of this year’s tournament. So, for the first time this season, the Lady Bulldogs departed Decatur around 5:30 p.m. for the one-and-a-half-hour bus ride that saw the team arriving just as the sun set, a first.

At 8:30 p.m., the start time for the match, two other teams from Northwest Arkansas were playing an intense contest and a fight to continue their seasons. The DecaturMulberry match started 45 minutes after its scheduled start time, but the Decatur girls were ready and eventually took the first set, 25-17.

As with the first set, the Lady Bulldogs jumped out in front by 10, and it looked like Decatur would take set number two. But a timeout by the Mulberry coach broke Decatur’s run, and suddenly the Lady Yellowjackets were forging ahead, overtaking the Lady Bulldogs and moving on to a 25-15 win, with the match tied at one set each.

Coach Cali Lankford calmed her team down enough that when the Lady Bulldogs hit the court for the start of set three, the cold streak dissipated and Decatur took control of the two remaining sets, 25-17 and 25-16, taking the second-round win and advancing to the third round on Tuesday against an all too familiar foe, Life Way Christian.

Returning to Yellowjacket gym for day two of the tournament, the Lady Bulldogs’ spirits were high as they sat and watched the contest before theirs.

Thaden Lady Barnstormers from Bentonville and New School Lady Cougars duked it out for a chance to advance into the next round. Thaden took the match, three sets to one, to continue on while the New School’s 2022 volleyball season came to a close.

Then it was time for the Decatur-Life Way contest. Both teams took to the court for their five-minute warmups before the matches. Soon it was time to play volleyball.

The Lady Bulldogs came out strong in the first set, taking four straight points and the lead. As quickly as it began, the Decatur hot streak evaporated, and the Lady Bulldogs found themselves falling further and further behind. Life Way took the first set, 2510.

And, as quickly as it started, the Decatur Lady Bulldog season was over, losing to Life Way, 25-13 and 25-12, in the final two sets.

The Decatur Bulldog 2022 season ended with a record of seven wins and 10 losses, one win and one loss in conference play.