Quitman downs Mineola in district play

Posted 10/3/18

Anyone looking for an evening of exciting, adrenalin-filled fun needs to come out and watch Lady Jackets when take on the Quitman Lady Bulldogs volleyball team. Last week’s match between the Highway 37 county rivals, a match which Quitman won 3-1, demonstrated all the best things about high school athletic competition. Energy, teamwork, focus, emotion … it was all on display by both squads. The scores were 25-13, 25-27, 25-19, 25-22.

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Quitman downs Mineola in district play

Posted

Anyone looking for an evening of exciting, adrenalin-filled fun needs to come out and watch Lady Jackets when take on the Quitman Lady Bulldogs volleyball team. Last week’s match between the Highway 37 county rivals, a match which Quitman won 3-1, demonstrated all the best things about high school athletic competition. Energy, teamwork, focus, emotion … it was all on display by both squads. The scores were 25-13, 25-27, 25-19, 25-22.

After dropping the first game of the match, the Lady Jackets fought hard in an epic Game Two. Strong net play and two early well-placed drop shots put Mineola up early in the game. The Lady Bulldogs fought back and evened the score at 7-7. For the remainder of the match, the two sides hammered at each other. There were no easy points in this game, as the volleys went back and forth. The score was tied 11 times before Mineola took the game 27-25 with a three point sequence of Block - Block - Kill. The characteristics demonstrated by both sides in this game are exactly why high school athletics are important. What a contest!

Quitman rebounded in the third set building an early lead. Mineola clawed back to tie the game at 9-9, but a series of miss-hits allowed Quitman to pull away. Mineola closed to within three points 21-18, before two big Quitman kill shots by Madalyn Spears and Jentri Jackson sealed the 25-19 win for the Lady Bulldogs. Spears led Quitman with 25 digs, 18 kills and an ace.

The Lady Jackets’ game three struggles continued into the fourth set as the Lady Bulldogs surged ahead. Mineola never conceded a thing, fighting tooth and nail to even the game at 14-14, and again late at 21 - 21. Quitman took the game and match after a drop shot, two Mineola miss-hits and a kill.

For Quitman, Jackson had 21 digs, six kills, three aces; Shelby Hayes had two digs, six kills, four aces, and 33 assists; Abby Dobbs had nine digs, one kill, one ace, one assist; Maddy Whitehurst had five kills; Ava Burroughs had one dig, five kills, two blocks; and Lindsey Hornaday had seven digs and four kills.

Coming off a week which saw the Lady Jackets’ first district win (Sept. 18 against Lone Oak), followed by a very competitive match against Rains, Mineola is ramping up for a strong second half run. The next opportunity to watch the Lady Jackets in action will be Friday, Oct. 5 as they host Alba-Golden to begin the second round of district play. Varsity will begin play at 4:30 that Friday.

After taking last Friday off, the Lady Bulldogs start the second half of District 12-3A at home Tuesday against Lone Oak before hosting Grand Saline as part of homecoming activities this Friday at 4:30 p.m. Quitman is 5-1 in district action and 19-11 on the year.