Lady Bulldogs beat Henderson in four games

Photo by Lester Murray BUSY NIGHT OF VOLLEYBALL — The Kilgore High School varsity volleyball team beat Henderson in four games Tuesday night, evening its District 14-4A record at 1-1. The freshmen (right) and junior varsity teams lost to Henderson, however. Kilgore is home for three of its next four games, including Friday night against Nacogdoches, beginning with varsity at 4:30 p.m. On Friday night, the Kilgore High School Bulldogs volleyball team was so close to opening District 14-4A play with a win, having beaten Jacksonville in the first two games (of the best-ofthree night), only to see Jacksonville bounce back.

Tuesday night here at their own gymnasium, though, was a different story.

The Lady Bulldogs did win, a four-game victory over Henderson, getting their first district win of the season, ending a multi-week losing streak and serving notice to the district that they could be in the playoff race.

Sabine, meanwhile, suffered a bit of a setback, losing in five games at Elysian Fields.

• KHS tops Henderson: Kilgore lost the first game to Henderson, 14-25, but then beat Henderson in three straight games, 25-19, 26-24, 25- 19.

The Lady Bulldogs (6-14 overall, 1-1 in district play) are back home Friday night, hosting Nacogdoches. Kilgore plays varsity first on Fridays (at 4:30 p.m.). The Lady 'Dogs have three of their next four games at home.

The first game against the Lady Lions Tuesday night looked like so many KHS games in recent years: close but not enough. Kilgore rallied and tied the game at nine, but Henderson reeled off five straight points and won game one without much of a fight.

Not so in game two.

Kilgore took a 4-2 lead off a serve by Kathryn McIntyre, kept pace with Henderson, went up 18-16 on a kill by Kelsey Jackson and never trailed again, with net players Raven Wiley and Haylee Wright getting three straight blocks and Kilgore taking the 25-19 victory.

Controversy reared its head in game three, as a Henderson player got hit in the face and officials ruled the point must be replayed. Kilgore had won the point previously, but the replay went to the Lions.

Again, though, it was a situation where Kilgore took the lead midway and even thought it got close, didn't trail again, taking a 26-24 win.

Kilgore won the match in dramatic fashion: three of the last four Lady 'Dogs' serves (by China Hughes and Jackson) hit the net and just dropped in before a Henderson player could manage to get to them.

For the night, Andrea Ashley finished with three blocks and a kill; Jackson had five kills; Sarah Morris had two kills and a block; Raven Wiley had five blocks and three kills; several of Hughes' serves led to Kilgore points; Wright had two blocks and a kill; and McIntyre had five kills.

It was the first win over Henderson for second-year KHS coach Lacy Thompson.

Kilgore's freshmen and junior varsity both lost to Henderson. The freshmen lost, 12-25, 16- 25, and the JV lost 22-25, 25- 18, 23-25.

• Sabine loses at EF: The Sabine High School Lady Cardinals lost at Elysian Fields in five games, 25-23, 20-25, 26- 24, 15-25, 6-15.

For Sabine (14-12 overall, 2-4 in District 18-2A), Cortnee Ryan had 13 kills, six blocks, and 13 assists; Carra Smitherman had 12 kills and nine blocks; Alex Easley had two kills, a block, two assists and an ace; Shayla Gossett had three kills, three blocks and four assists; Cassie Headley had 14 assists and two aces; Brittany Stuart had four kills, a block and an assist; Kendra Whitehead had a kill; Krystal Kent had eight digs and an ace; Lindsey Bryce had seven digs and Tashae' Pegues had a kill.

Sabine, coached by Rickey Hammontree, visits Winona Friday, varsity only, at 4:30 p.m.