By Cody Pastorella
MONT BELVIEU -- The Port Neches-Groves Lady Indians swapped punch for punch with the Lady Panthers of Kingwood Park in Games 1 and 2 of their first round matchup of the Class 4A volleyball playoffs on Tuesday night at Barbers Hill High School.
But the momentum and the match spiraled out of control for the Rock-A-Noos in the final two games. Kingwood Park made off with a 3-1 victory, winning Game 1 26-24, Game 3 25-16 and Game 4 25-15.
Had the Lady Tribe pulled out Game 1, which was as close as the Yankees are to another world series title, who knows what could have been.
The Rock-A-Noos made a push late in Game 1 on a 4-1 march that gave them a 21-20 advantage. Then they took a second lead at 22-21. But Kingwood scored five of the final seven points. Once the Lady Tribe fell behind 23-22, they were unable to reclaim the lead and had to play catchup.
"We had our chances," said PN-G head coach Barbara Comeaux whose team posted a 24-14 overall record in 2009 that included a second place finish in District 20-4A.
"They were doing some things that we were struggling with in that first game but we certainly could have won it. It was anyone's game really. They just pulled it out in the end."
Comeaux said in between Game 1 and 2, she made some adjustments that allowed her team to complicate matters for Kingwood.
And that plan worked tremendously, as the Lady Indians improved an 17-15 advantage to a 25-18, Game 2 victory.
It appeared the momentum may had fallen in PN-G's corner at that point, but Comeaux said the Lady Panthers readjusted their strategy to match the Lady Indians.
Checkmate, advantage Kingwood.
The Lady Indians had no answer and were in over their heads at that point. They fought tooth-and-nail just to keep Game 3 interesting. They immediately fell behind by five and but chipped and chipped to pull the game within two points on two occasions but with the score 14-12, the Lady Panthers ran away to 25-16 win.
"Once they readjusted, we couldn't up. Maybe we ran out of gas by the third game. But you have to give them credit, they are a great team and played really well. They were very aggressive," Comeaux explained. "I thought we played well, they just played a great game. They were great defensively and I think that was the difference for us. We did not have a good defensive game. We did what we planned to do offensively, they just blocked everything and and made a lot of great digs."
The Lady Tribe's biggest problem was Caleigh Koshnick, who slammed down 18 kills. PN-G's top player was Paige Miller, who tallied 12 points, 17 assists and made four blocks. She led in all categories.
Meanwhile, Mallory Livingston and Megan Elam each had 10 digs. Lauryn Stephens had a team-high 13 kills. Kirsten Satterwhite and Shelby Blanchard each recorded an ace. Blanchard also produced three blocks, three points and two kills.
This was the second straight season the Lady Tribe ran into Kingwood Park in the bi-district round of the playoffs. The Lady Indians were the victor last but fell to Buda Hays in area.
Close not enough for Nederland spikers
BAYTOWN – Underdog Nederland pushed District 19-4A champion Crosby hard in Tuesday night’s Class 4A bidistrict match at Lee College.
But the Lady Bulldogs, fourth-place qualifiers from 20-4A, could never get over the hump and fell in three games, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23 in a match that started more than an hour late and finished after the local news.
“We struggled throughout the season,” Nederland coach Toni Leach said when her team’s season was complete at 19-15. “We had some injuries, but I was pleased that we made the playoffs.”
Jessica Cloud led the Lady Bulldogs with eight kills and Cassie Hyde backed her with five kills.
Kacy Morris led Crosby, 37-2, with 15 kills.
Nederland led for most of the first set, with Crosby not taking the lead until it scored four straight points to go up 24-22.
Nederland led early, 9-7, in the third set.
“I was disappointed tonight,” Leach said. “We didn’t play hard and we could have been more aggressive. We let down and made some mistakes and those mistakes stayed in our head.”
