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Lady Hornets made great comeback, throttle Thrall
Louise came away with a win with scores of 25-20, 16-25, 22-25, 25-22 and 16-14 to beat the Tigerettes. "I'm so proud of the girls," said Bryan Branch, head coach of the Lady Hornets. "They didn't give up. It was a hard-fought game and I give a lot of credit to Thrall. They played their tails off and that could have gone either way." Senior Sarah Williamson led the Lady Hornets through several close points en route to Louise's first playoff win since the volleyball program was reinstated nearly eight years ago. "It's amazing," Williamson said. "We got real down, but the last couple of games, I just kept thinking, 'Could this be the end?' And I couldn't see it being the end. This is so cool and I'm so happy. I just wish it wasn't my last year."
"It's a great win," Gresham said. "And it's my senior year. I wish I was younger so I could enjoy it more, but it's a great way to end it." What helped Louise make it this far, Williamson said, is the heart of the Lady Hornets. "I love the team," she said. "Everyone gets along. We're so great together and we have so much good teamwork. That's the difference and Coach Branch is the difference. He gets us up when we're down. He knows exactly what to say and he makes us the team that we are. He's just Coach Branch." Saturday's match, Branch said, came down to talent. The coach said Louise has a slight edge in athleticism and in the playoffs, that usually determines who will win the match. "I think we have one more player than they do," Branch said. "Our hitters are a little bit better than them. We finally figured them out and put ourselves into position. We made one more play than they did in the fifth game. With the score 16-14, that's what it comes down to. We made one play that they didn't make. It was very equal. My hat is off to them. They played a lot better tonight then I thought they were going to."
"It's Amber and Sarah - there's no secret about it," Branch said of the Lady Hornets' attack. "Everybody knows we're going to Amber and Sarah." The two certainly dominated the net, but Branch admitted Louise's strategy seemed a bit off. Games two and three, which Thrall won, featured a Lady Hornet team that was struggling to catch momentum. That Louise was able to rally back for a win, Branch said, is indicative of Saturday's team effort - not only Bain and Williamson. "Usually one of them is on, but when we lost those two games, they were both off," Branch said. "Sarah was hitting the net, Amber was being kind of passive and our sets weren't quite there. "Everything was just a little bit off tonight and that's a testament to the girls. We got down in game four and down in game five and we never quit. We just kept on fighting through it and played one point at a time." Louise's back-row defense was solid throughout the night. Three Lady Hornets finished the match with double digits in digs. Kierra Thornton led the team with 18 digs while Gresham had 12 and Kelsi Kutac had 10 digs. The girls' speed helped put them in the perfect places to make plays and help give their team added momentum. After Louise fell in the third game, 25-22, the Lady Hornets made a great comeback in game four to force a fifth and deciding match. Down 17-12 as the fourth game came to a close, the Lady Hornets made their greatest push of the night. Eight more points for Thrall and the match was over. Louise rallied with several strong attacks by Bain and Williamson at the net to outscore Thrall 8-1 and be the first to reach 20 points. Louise had the lead 20-18 and needed 5 more points to force a fifth game. The Tigerettes stayed close with Louise over the next few points. The Lady Hornets slowly moved to a 23-21 lead, but Thrall was closing in. A serve that sailed out of bounds cut Louise's lead to 23- 22 and put Thrall up to serve. The next series ended with a tough hit by Williamson. The Tigerettes tried to dig the ball out, but a bad pass went out of bounds to put Louise up 24-22. The Lady Hornets made the final point of the match on a powerful blast by Bain to win 25-23. Louise held off Thrall in the fifth game in extra points 16-14 for the match win and advanced to play Shiner in the next round. The Lady Hornets faced the Lady Comanches in Cuero late Tuesday night in the regional quarterfinal. As of presstime, information on the match was unavailable. The outcome of Louise's match with the Lady Comanches will be in Saturday's edition of the Leader-News. Shiner is coming off two straight wins in the post season. The Lady Comanches defeated Woodsboro in the first round and Round Top-Carmine in the second. Branch recognized Shiner as an elite team and said his Lady Hornets will have to play at a level of excellence if they want to advance to the regional semifinal Friday. "Shiner played the other night against Round Top and was dominant," he said. "They looked really good. We're going to have to play our best to really hang with them. I can't say enough good things about Shiner. They got through a big obstacle with them beating Round Top. Round Top always beats them out, so that's a big emotional high for them right now. So, you've got two teams on two emotional highs coming in Tuesday and we're going to try to change up a few things. "We're going to make a strategy and adjust to them. They've got some real good hitters. This is the first time we're going to have to adjust to somebody. We usually like to pride ourselves and say 'We're going to make them adjust to us.' No, we're going to have to adjust to them. |
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