Lady Cats lose in straight sets at home
[adning id=”33097″]
The Sulphur Springs Lady Cats hosted the Hallsville Lady Bobcats Friday, looking to better their playoff positioning. Sulphur Springs entered the game with a district record of 6-4, trailing third place Hallsville by two games.
Hallsville opened the first set with a bit of momentum, but Sulphur Springs’ Brooklynn Burnside was able to slow that down a bit with a big kill. Later in the set, trailing 7-4 it was sophomore Kinslei Smallwood who gave the Lady Cats a jolt of energy with a big block.
Sulphur Springs was never quite able to take the lead, but they did prevent the Lady Bobcats from running away with things, as Kaslyn Hurley provided a kill of her own to cut the deficit to 12-8. Hallville answered back with a 6-3 run, extending their lead to 18-11 when Addisyn Wall came through with a big kill.
Senior Peyton Hammack turned things on in the back part of the set, contributing a kill and an ace, although the Lady Cats were never able to cut the deficit entirely, dropping the first set by a score of 25-19.
The second set got off to a close start, as it was Myssiah Dugan who’s block cut the Sulphur Springs deficit to 5-4. Hallsville dominated the remainder of the set, however, outscoring the Lady Cats 20-6 to take the second set 25-10.
Needing a big third set to keep themselves alive, the Lady Cats got off to their best start of the night. Another ace from Hammack put Sulphur Springs ahead 7-3 in the early going. Hallsville answered back by going on a strong run, but Burnside tried to slow things down with a block that tied the game at 15-15.
[adning id=”33207″]
A kill from Elli Kate Daniel on the following play gave Sulphur Springs their lead back at 16-15, and a Burnside block a few possession later gave them an 18-17 lead, but the Lady Cats were unable to hold on. Hallsville ended the set strong, winning 27-25 and putting the game away in straight sets.
Sulphur Springs didn’t have one offensive leader, as Burnside, Dugan, Hammack, Smallwood and Wall all led with three kills each. Daniel and Hurley each had two kills, while Parris Pickett had one kill.
Setting things up was Hammack, who had 13 of the teams 19 assists. Pickett had four, while Dugan and Wall each had one.
Defensively it was Pickett who led the way with 15 digs. Hammack was right behind her with 11, as they combined for over half the teams digs.
Burnside and Dugan protected the net, as they combined for seven total blocks. Smallwood also had a pair of blocks in the teams 3-0 loss.
The loss drops the Lady Cats overall record to 18-16 and makes them 6-5 in district play, though they have already secured a spot in the playoffs. Tuesday Sulphur Springs will travel to Longview for their final regular season game. In their last meeting the Lady Cats beat Longview 3-2, with scores of 25-12, 25-17, 24-26, 25-27 and 15-5.
By Tyler Lennon
[adning id=”33207″]
