After dominating the opening set, Texas High took its foot off the gas a little against a feisty Prairiland volleyball team, and the young Lady Tigers ended up playing an extra set.
THS defeated the Lady Patriots, 25-14, 25-23, 24-26, 25-18, Tuesday at Tiger Center, and head coach Melissa Hardy saw improvement and some signs of maturation while a key teammate is out with injury.
Sophomore Treyaunna Rush, a 6-1 hitter, is sidelined for a few more weeks but is expected back before Texas High gets too deep into its District 16-5A schedule.
Senior Takeba Dowden hammered 21 kills and had three solo blocks for the Tigers, and Kaitlyn Cross had 12 kills and four blocks.
"I'm really proud of the girls," Tigers head coach Hardy said. "Takeba stepped up and played well. She played well at the net, blocking and swinging. In the past few games, Kaitlyn has stepped up, and our passers have been playing well and consistent. As a whole the team is playing better."
The Tigers pulled ahead in the second set, 8-5, with Vicki Willis serving four straight, including an ace, but the Patriots regained the lead with five consecutive points. The set was tied at 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23. Cross put down a kill, and a serve-receive error gave THS a 2-0 lead in the match.
Prairiland took the early advantage in the third set, scoring the first four, but the Tigers took their first lead at 8-7. The Pats scored four in a row to go up 17-12 before a four-point streak with Willis serving again made it a one-point set. The teams traded points until Antonia Porter's kill was followed by a hitting error by Prairiland, tying the set at 20.
The Patriots scored the next three, and THS answered with three in a row. After trading points, a pair of hitting errors by the Tigers sent it to a fourth set.
The teams came out trading punches and rallies in the fourth set. But Mia Wilson served nine straight to put Texas High up 17-9, and the Tigers never relinquished the advantage. Dowden had three kills and a block during the long rally, and she ended the match on her final kill.
Katelyn Jordan had 23 service winners to lead Texas High, and she also had 35 assists and eight digs. Olivia Lower had 21 service points and eight digs, Willis served 17 points and had 13 digs, and Wilson had 15 points. Porter finished with five kills.
"Our setter (Jordan) is having to play all the way around, and it can be exhausting when you're playing six rotations instead of only three," Hardy said. "But she is handling it well. Olivia is going all the way around, and they've stepped up and taken on the role to do whatever they have to do to win. I think it's going to make them better players, and whenever Trey (Rush) comes back it's only going to make the team better."
Prairiland won the sub-varsity matches, including 25-19, 25-16 in the junior varsity. Juanita Lewis led the Tigers with 10 service points.
The Lady Patriot freshmen won, 25-18, 25-16. Cindy Deleon and Nevaeh McCoy had nine points each for THS.