AREA VOLLEYBALL: Lady Cats Win Five-Set Thriller for Share of District Title

SAN ANGELO, TX-- The Central Lady Cats got their piece of the district championship tonight when they beat the Weatherford Kangaroos in five sets.

The game was a close one with the scores being 25-21, 22-25, 14-25, 25-16, and 17-15. 

The first set was a close one. Central held the lead the whole entire set, but they never had a lead bigger than three. The second set played almost the same, except it was the Roo’s. They led the whole set except for the first point scored by central. 

Set three was a scary set for the Lady Bobcats as they lost it 14-25. It seemed as if it was going to be almost the same game every set, but Weatherford played very well in the third. They ended up going on two consecutive five point runs the first making it 11-10 to 16-10, and the other 16-11 to 21-11. 

When asked how she kept her girls spirits high after the third set, head coach Connie Bozarth said her team "wanted a Gold Ball” 

It was all Lady Cats in the fourth set, though. They came back after the loss in the third and won 25-16 in the fourth. It was a tight battle early, but when the score was 10-10 the Lady Cats when on a 10 point run led by senior Trinity Southall. They forced a final game five for a shot at the title.

“We served tough, we stayed aggressive, and we really worked all week long on staying focused and not letting mistakes be bigger than us," Bozarth said.

That's exactly what they did in the neck-and-neck fifth set. Central really started the set in control, leading until the 13th point. Then the Lady Roo’s took the lead 14-13. It didn’t look good for Central at that point, but they never gave up and fought all the way to the end to win 17-15 and earn the title of co-district champions. 

Senior hitter Kristen Gomez led the Lady Cats with 11 kills in the match. Veronica Guerrero was on fire setting up the offense with 33 assists.

The Lady Cats tied for first in district, but opted for the 2nd seed. They will play Fort Worth Trimble Tech in Clyde for the Bi-District round.

Central finishes the regular season at 32-7.

Wall Handles Business, Clinches Share of District Title in Season Finale

The Wall Lady Hawks finished off the regular season with a sweep of Reagan County at home on Tuesday.

The Lady Hawks knocked off the Lady Owls 25-10, 25-13 and 25-12.

Wall needed the win to clinch at least a share of the district championship.

Wall improves to 26-13 overall and 9-1 in District 4-3A.

The Lady Hawks were led offensively by Kylie Phillips with five kills. Four Lady Hawks were tied with two kills.

Rylee Luther set up Wall’s tough attack with seven assists. Tatum Granzin had five.

Defensively, Candra Barnett was Wall’s wall with a team-high nine digs.

Sonora Takes Down TLCA to Tie Wall in District Standings

The Sonora Lady Broncos needed a win Tuesday in order to clinch a share of the District 4-3A crown. They did just that wih a four-set win at the TLCA Lady Eagles.

TLCA took the first set 25-23. Sonora then won the next three sets 25-11, 25-20 and 25-19 to be crowned co-district champions.

Sonora will face Wall at Lake View on Saturday at 5 p.m. for 4-3A's first place seed in the playoffs. The winner will face the fourth place team from District 3-3A while the loser will face the third place team.

Leading TLCA's offense was Isabelle Russell with eight kills. Karli Bucks had seven kills and Kait Kirkland had six.

Defensively, Kirkland led TLCA with an astounding 31 digs. 

The Lady Broncos improve to 22-14 and 9-1 in district play following the win.

The Lady Eagles finish 6-3 in district and take the third place spot from District 4-3A. They will play Tornillo in the Bi-District round of playoffs at Fort Stockton on Monday, Oct. 29, at 6 p.m.

This story will be updated.