A successful season for the Quitman Lady Bulldogs (25-16) ended in the area round before a large crowd at the Hawkins gym as they fell to the state’s top-ranked Class 3A team White Oak (37-2) in three sets.

It was not without a fight as the Ladies Bulldogs battled the entire contest and made the Lady Roughnecks work for their win. The scores were 25-21, 25-16 and 25-12.

The first set saw some of the year’s most exciting action. White Oak raced to an early 6-0 lead and looked to be on the way to an easy win, but the Lady Bulldogs would not go away without a fight. 

A kill by Ava Burroughs on a set by Carley Spears made it 6-1. After an ace by Alexis O’Neal made it 6-4, the game became a hotly contested affair.

After the Lady Roughnecks made it 8-4, sophomore Maddy Pence, fresh off a fine performance at the state cross country meet, had a powerful kill on another set by Spears cutting the lead to 8-5.

The teams fought back and forth as White Oak took a 14-8 advantage, but Quitman would not give in. With the Lady Roughnecks leading 15-11, sophomore Ashley Davis stepped to the line to serve and moments later, after tremendous hustle and hard work, a Spears kill tied the contest at 15-15.

White Oak went on to lead 23-19, but a Brooklyn Marcee kill closed the gap. The game ended on a serve by White Oak’s Lexi Baker giving the Lady Roughnecks a 25-21 win in the first set.

Quitman started the second set with kills by Marcee and Kaysi Parker to take an early 2-0 lead. White Oak came back with five straight scores to go up 5-2. 

After taking a 5-3 advantage the Lady Roughnecks scored the next six points to take a big 11-3 lead. With Quitman down 12-8 Marcee had two blocks for scores and a kill to cut into the White Oak lead making it 13-11. White Oak stretched their lead to 21-15, but UT Arlington-bound Burroughs sent a thundering kill cutting the lead to 21-16. The Lady Bulldog scoring ended there and White Oak finished off the set with a perfectly-placed ace for the 25-16 win.

In the final set, White Oak went on a roll. After taking a 4-3 lead the Lady Roughnecks scored the next seven to take an 11-3 advantage. Quitman kept attacking and hustling but the Lady Roughnecks were on a mission as the Lady Bulldogs fell behind 21-10. White Oak finished the set with a 25-12 win and moves on to the region quarter-final.

Final stats for Quitman were Burroughs, nine kills, two aces, five digs; Brooklyn Marcee eight kills, seven digs, two block assists; Spears, 17 assists, one ace, five digs; Pence two kills, one dig, one block assist; Alexis O’Neal, two aces, five digs; Ashley Davis, two kills, one ace, six digs; Parker, one kill, one block, one assist; and Addison Marcee, three digs.

Coach Ashlee Lingo said, “This has been a great season. After not making playoffs last season, our goal was to get back to playoffs. We did just that. These ladies started that hard work in the offseason. The majority of our girls in the program were in regular attendance at summer workout. This team grew up a lot this season. They learned to work together and were competitive in district and post-season play. Our goal against White Oak was to serve tough and take care of serve receive. This was one of the best serving matches I have seen all year. I’m so proud of these ladies and how they represented Quitman.”

The team ended their season with a 25-16 record.