NEDERLAND — Peyton Smith stayed active on the defensive end, and Nederland improved to 2-0 in District 22-5A volleyball Saturday with a 3-1 win over Lumberton.

Smith finished with 22 digs in the 23-25, 25-10, 25-23, 25-19 win. Abbey Montalvo played a big role as well with 24 kills, 20 assists, three digs and two aces.

Also for the Bulldogs (13-8, 2-0 in 22-5A), Mackenzie MacFarlane had five blocks and four kills, Kameron Cuniff had 10 kills and Meg Sheppard added five.

Nederland hosts Beaumont Central on Monday.

PNG 3, OZEN 0
PORT NECHES — Kaitlyn Gil totaled 17 kills, Rachel Hammersmith assisted on 17 points, and Port Neches-Groves (15-5, 2-0 in 22-5A) swept Ozen 25-9, 25-8, 25-15 on Saturday.

Libbie LeJeune served on 18 points, had 10 digs and totaled four kills for the Rock-A-Noos, who host Vidor on Monday. Rachel Hammersmith had 14 service points, 17 assists and five digs; Elizabeth Bolyard had nine service points, four digs and six kills; Kasidee Sartin totaled four digs and Baylee Priddy had 1 assists.

Also Saturday: Livingston swept visiting Port Arthur Memorial 25-15, 25-14, 25-11.

CROSS COUNTRY
NEDERLAND WINS LUMBERTON INVITE
LUMBERTON — Nederland’s boys cross country team placed four runners in the top 10 and raced to a team victory in the Lumberton Invitational on Saturday.

Blake Mortera led the team charge with a third-place finish (18:24) in the 5,000-meter race. Carlos Barboza (18:48) was sixth, Charles Potter eighth and Carlos Rodriguez ninth for the Bulldogs.

Port Neches-Groves came in third as a team, led by Collin Dietrich’s fourth-place (18:32) run. Sebastian Wagner and Caleb Dominguez came in 16th and 17th, respectively, Kaden Flores was 20th and Keaton Richard took 22nd.

Nederland had 34 team points. Little Cypress-Mauriceville was second with 59 and PNG was third with 71.

PNG won the girls team title with 24 points, led by Anna Licatino’s 24:33 run. Jefferson County took eight of the top 10 positions, as Nederland sixth-grader Mary Kathryn Gibson, representing Renaissance Academy, won the individual title at 21:39.

Rachel Morrison of Nederland was second (22:35), helping the Bulldogs finish second in team standings with 38. Ny’Reonna Smith of Memorial came in fourth (24:36), and PNG’s Grace Richard, Jaysa Miller and Alexus Allen were sixth, eighth and ninth, respectively.

For Nederland, Macie Saleme came in 10th, Giovanna Hernandez was 13th, Litzy Vasquez was 16th and Savannah Maxwell was 18th.

Kaylee Landry rounded out the PNG scoring in 15th. For Memorial, Denisha Anderson came in 21st, Darlene Nguyen 25th and Milicent Neveu 26th.