Mineola hosted Grand Saline in a pre-district matchup last Tuesday, falling in five games.

After winning the opening games 25-20, 25-23, the 23-25, 23-25, 10-15 losses handed out by the visiting Lady Indians were a hard pill to swallow. But like the best medicine, it’s not the way it tastes going down, but how strong it can make you that matters.

Mineola’s five-game loss will not define the Lady Jacket’s season, but it could set them on a path, depending on how they emerge from it and what lessons they take with them.

While the match lacked the atmosphere or pressure of playoff-level competition, Mineola underclassmen newcomers got to experience the feeling of a close match with intensity that, while difficult to maintain and persevere through, will come with the territory if making a late-season push.

In the crucial third game, after the opening two points, the Lady Jackets did not trail until Grand Saline took over at 21-20. They tied it up at 23-23, but lost the next two points to surrender their first game.

Mineola’s five-point lead in the opening stanza was the largest held by either team until the final frame, which the Lady Indians opened with an 8-1 flurry.

The Lady Jackets surged back with an 8-2 run on serves by Gracie Lindley and Olivia Hughes. When Kali Chrietzberg got a kill to close within two, it seemed Mineola was poised to rally, but Grand Saline took five of the last six points to claim an emphatic victory.

Mineola rebounded with a second-place finish at the Athens tournament Saturday.