The Mineola Lady Jackets did not have the kind of week they had hoped for with the start of district play Friday. The Lady Jackets dropped both matches this week including their district opener against Eustace.

Mineola lost their last non-district match against Brownsboro last Tuesday in five sets, 21-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-21 and 10-15.

“We started out slow Tuesday, did a great job of fighting back but just couldn’t pull out the win,” said Head Coach Kerry Van Cleave. “The girls don’t have anything to hang their heads about. Lots of improvement is being seen across the board from everyone.” 

Lauren Almuete, once again, led the way for the Lady Jackets with 20 kills, five digs and three aces.

Jaycee Whitehead added eight kills of her own with Kiley Banks’ 22 digs and a ridiculous 60 assists from Lanie Kelley, who also had five digs of her own.

The Lady Jackets flooded the stats sheet Tuesday in the loss and the trend continued Friday with an opening loss in district play.

Mineola lost to Eustace in four sets, 25-18, 21-25, 22-35 and 18-25. 

“After winning set one we struggled and we’re back on a roller coaster, we’d start to move in the right direction but couldn’t keep the momentum,” Van Cleave said. “No one wants to start district with a loss but if we learn from it and keep moving forward, things will be ok. “

Lauren Almuete continued her dominance at the net with 13 kills, five digs and one ace. Sabria Dean added six kills of her own.

Lanie Kelley had another incredible match of assists with 41. Jessiah Riley had nine digs and Jadi Lopez had eight digs with one kill.

“We’ve come a long way from August 1st and are continuing to improve,” said Van Cleave. “We have to find some consistency and keep on working, one game at a time.”