NEDERLAND — It was not the prettiest match in Nederland Lady Bulldogs history but the team got it done on Senior Night.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated the Ozen Lady Panthers 3-1 by scores of 23-25, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-19.
Nederland is now 26-13 overall and 12-2 in District 22-5A play. The Lady Bulldogs will enter the playoffs as the second seed behind the Goose Creek Memorial Lady Patriots.
Ozen fell to 27-11 and 8-6 and with Lumberton’s (16-18, 8-6) win over Beaumont Central and PN-G’s (22-15, 8-6) loss to Goose Creek Memorial, the Lady Panthers are in a three-way tie for third with the Lady Raiders and Rock-A-Noos.
Nederland took control of the match early in Game 2 behind the strong serve of Abbey Montalvo. Montalvo, one of the best servers on Nederland, hit for four straight service points to put the Lady Bulldogs up 5-0. The run of service points included two aces, Montalvo finished with three for the match.
Montalvo came up to serve again in the middle of the game with Nederland up 13-10 and struck for six straight points. Three of those points came off Ozen hitting errors as the Lady Bulldogs took a 19-10 lead.
The Lady Panthers climbed back into the game at 20-17 but the next four Ozen shots were errors and Nederland won Game 2, 25-19.
“They made me sweat,” Nederland coach Kristin Lemoine said. “We showed more heart and we showed more intensity. We never settled.”
Nederland led 21-17 in the third game and then Marlie Lee was able to hit for three straight points to give the Lady Bulldogs a 24-18 lead.
Emma Forsythe then set Tatum Kieschnick for the game’s final point.
Nederland then did not take full control of Game 4 until Darcie Jones came to serve with Nederland up 16-12. She immediately struck for an ace and then three straight Ozen errors gave Nederland a 20-12 lead.
The Lady Panthers worked it back to 23-19 before Caroline Noel set Lee for a kill and then the match’s final point came off a Forsythe ace. The Lady Bulldogs won 25-19.
Forsythe ended the match with 15 assists while Montalvo added 18 assists. Caroline Noel finished with 10 kills while Lee led Nederland with 15.
Chelse Gloude had a match-high 19 assists for Ozen. Tempestt Vaughn had eight kills.