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La Grange sweeps Sweeny out of playoffs
Published November 4, 2009
EAST BERNARD — Back in the volleyball playoffs, Sweeny ran into a powerful Lady Lep group from La Grange who used a powerful, balanced attack Tuesday to knock the Lady Bulldogs out of the opening round.
La Grange had five players with at least five kills and kept Sweeny from putting together any substantial runs as the Lady Leps hit their way to a three-game 25-17, 25-10, 25-17 Class 3A bi-district victory in East Bernard.
“They played hard tonight, and that’s all you can really ask of them as a coach,” first-year Sweeny head coach Jamie Lister said. “They made uncharacteristic mistakes for our team because we’ve always been a passing/defense/serving team.
“The outcome may have been different — we might have gone five games if we cleaned it up a little bit more,” Lister said. “But all and all, they showed a lot of heart. Even though they were making mistakes, they were fighting hard. That’s really the best thing to be proud of.”
Sweeny (17-21) fell behind at the start of the first two games. La Grange (28-13) went ahead 7-2 in the opener and was spotted six straight points to begin Game 2 and led the rest of the way in each set.
The Lady Bulldogs led only once in the match — early on in Game 3 when Sweeny opened with a 3-0 edge. La Grange’s explosive offense responded and went ahead 7-6 and never trailed again.
The Lady Bulldogs kept it close until midway through the final game. Sweeny trailed by only two points, 14-12, then La Grange went on a 5-0 run, helped by a pair of aces, to build a 19-12 advantage.
A Sweeny kill on a block by sophomore Lauren Dannelley brought the Lady Bulldogs within five points, 21-16, but the Lady Leps scored four of the final five points of the match and capped it off with an ace by junior Bailey Keith.
“Not many people expected us to make the playoffs like last year,” Lister said. “They thought it would be a rough road, and it was, but I think we definitely peaked at the right time. In district, they really started coming together and getting more wins.
“This is something for the program to build on.”
Keith had a game-high 14 kills for the Lady Leps. Juniors Dylan Supak and Tess Gillespie and freshman Breanna Homer each had seven kills for La Grange. Senior Valerie Marrs added five kills and senior setter Bodie Gillespie had 21 assists.
Dannelley paced Sweeny with a team-high nine kills. Junior Kara Robbins had four kills and three blocks, and junior teammate Samantha Kuykendall added six assists for the Lady Bulldogs.
La Grange, the second-place finisher in District 25-3A, will face District 28-3A champion Cuero in the next round of the playoffs.
Jim Levesque is a sports writer for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0161.
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