The Haughton Lady Bucs completed a perfect run through District 1-II with a 25-14, 25-19, 25-20 victory over the Northwood Lady Falcons on Tuesday at Northwood.
Haughton improved to 21-11 overall with its 11th straight victory. The Lady Bucs finished district play 10-0, taking the title for the second straight year.
Haughton closes the regular season Thursday at Airline. The Lady Bucs were No. 22 in the latest Division II power rankings and will be on the road in the first round of the playoffs, which start Nov. 1.
Haughton actually clinched the district title Monday with a four-set victory over second-place Caddo Magnet at home.
The Lady Bucs won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-22. The Lady Mustangs rallied to take the third set 25-20 and got off to a good start in the fourth, grabbing an 11-7 lead.
But Haughton got on a dominating roll, outscoring Magnet 18-3 to take the match.
The Lady Bucs also defeated the Lady Mustangs (13-11, 8-2) in four sets on Sept. 25 at Magnet.
“That was fun,” Haughton coach Justin Ginn said Monday night. “We beat them twice this year and it’s been tough the whole time. That’s a good team. They’ve got some great players. And they pushed our girls tonight, and when they pushed us I think that’s when we fought back the hardest and I loved it.
“There have been times this season when we’ve sat back on our heels and let people climb back into matches. But tonight that’s the best I’ve seen us come together and play with all that intensity. Similar situations to what happened tonight have happened all season and it might have been something that pushed us down and we weren’t able to get back up. Tonight we got back up and we scored some points when we needed to score them. I’m just so proud of the girls.”
Arielle Emanuel led Haughton in kills with 11. She also had five aces, four digs, one assist and one block. Taralyn Sweeney had seven kills and two blocks.
“I was excited about Taralyn Sweeney tonight,” Ginn said. “I thought she was a monster in the middle for us. We matched her up on a kid, No. 5 (Ki’Avian Johnson). She’s a good player, one of the best in the district. I felt like we were able to neutralize their best player and that was a big part of why we were able to win tonight.”
The victory was an all-around team effort.
Taylor Williams (14) and Mia McWilliams (11) combined for 25 assists. Williams also had six aces, two kills and four digs. McWilliams also had four aces, two kills and two digs.
Ashlyn Gilmore had seven digs, five kills and three aces. Kaylee Swiger had four aces, four kills and one dig. Reanna Crumper had three aces, one kill and two digs.
At Northwood, Swiger led the team in kills with eight. She also had four aces, one assist and one dig. Emanuel had seven kills to go with two aces, one assist and two digs.
McWilliams led the Lady Bucs in assists with 12. She also had four aces and one dig. Crumpler had 12 digs along with one ace and two kills.
Gilmore had four digs, four kills and two aces. Williams had seven assists, two kills and one dig. Sweeney had five kills. Catherine Hudson had two aces.
