REDWATER, Texas-Liberty-Eylau's volleyball season ended in a playoff match to determine the fourth and final seed in District 14-4A against Pittsburg at Dragon Gym Thursday.
The more experienced Lady Pirates defeated the Lady Leopards, 23-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-22.
"It has been a privilege, and it has been a great opportunity to experience all of my adversities as a first-year coach," Liberty-Eylau head coach Latasha Harris said. "But, more importantly, my team has learned how to build and capitalize on all of the adversities that we faced this year.
"I have a young team and each one of my girls are coming back next year. This was our building year, and I think we started off on a great path in setting a good foundation for next year. My girls went down fighting, and I'm proud of that."
Taylor Crabtree took the server's box with Liberty-Eylau down 8-6 in the first set. Keely Norris hammered down a kill, and teammate Kyana Norman followed with a kill of her own to tie the set. After a Pittsburg hitting error, Norris sent a kill down the right baseline to put L-E up, 10-8.
The teams played evenly until the Pirates tied the set at 23-all with a kill from Malaysia Burns. Crabtree smacked a kill down the back baseline to give the Leopards the serve back at set point. Amoiya Gentry caused a Pittsburg serve-receive error to give L-E the win.
Pittsburg got out to a 7-2 lead in the second set. Norris slapped a kill and Crabtree served in two points to get the Leopards to within two points. The set was played on even keel as L-E sneaked back into the set to tie it at 24-all after Kaliyah Thompson sent a winner flying down the middle left of the court.
The Leopards were called for hitting the net on the next point and for a back row violation on set point to give the Pirates the win.
Liberty-Eylau committed four service errors in the third set and were unable to string together more than three points, which they did once, in the set. Pittsburg jumped out to a 5-1 advantage as Dae'jah Heath had three kills during the rally.
Heath put down her sixth kill later in the set to give the Pirates a 18-8 lead. The Leopards tried to rally but were plagued with hitting errors.
Set 4 was played closer than the previous one. Pittsburg got off to a 10-6 lead and padded it to a 19-13, but Liberty-Eylau came back.
After a Pirate service error, Kelly Cigainero served in five straight points and caused a serve-receive error to give the Leopards a 21-20 lead; it was their first lead of the set. The Pirates came back with four points in a row and won the match on a L-E service error.
Crabtree had 10 service points, 25 digs and five kills for the Leopards. Derrica Henderson made 10 blocks and put down eight kills, Norman had five blocks and eight kills, and Norris had three blocks and nine kills.
Cigainero contributed 40 assists and served in 12 points for L-E. Digs leaders were Mariah Coleman with 25, Kaliyah Thompson made 15, and Aaliyah Thompson had 12.
The Leopards finished the season at 9-15 and 3-7 in district. Pittsburg plays Atlanta in New Boston, Texas, at 4:30 p.m. today to determine the fourth and final playoff spot in District 14-4A.
North Lamar, which went undefeated in district, is the first seed, followed by No. 2 seed Pleasant Grove and No. 3 seed Paris.