Three of Bossier Parish’s four volleyball squads won non-district matches Thursday evening with two pulling out five-set thrillers.
The Parkway Lady Panthers were on the verge of falling to 0-2, losing the first two sets at home to Captain Shreve 25-11 and 25-20. But Parkway rallied to win the next two handily, 25-14 and 25-15.
The Lady Panthers then won the tense fifth set 18-16 to improve to 1-1.
In the other five-setter, the Benton Lady Tigers rallied to win the third and fifth sets at Loyola College Prep, taking the match 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 12-25, 15-11. Benton improved to 2-0.
The Airline Lady Vikings also improved to 2-0, defeating Caddo Magnet 25-22, 25-8, 25-19 on the road.
Haughton was the only parish team to come up short. But after losing the first set 25-8 to host Ruston, the Lady Bucs picked up their game and gave the defending District 1-I champion Lady Bearcats all they wanted in the final two sets, falling 25-20 and 25-21. Haughton dropped to 0-2.
At Parkway, head coach Barbara Curry said the Lady Panthers had to “put up a fight for this win.”
“It’s been hard being thrown into playing games without having a match with anyone but ourselves,” she said. “We came into this game with a much better understanding of our personnel, but tonight we continued to make some minor adjustments. I’m really proud of how the team played defensively. They continue to play by our motto More2Give.”
Curry cited the play of junior middle Harley Pierce, junior setter Amaya Beckwith, sophomore RS/DS Evalyn Dang and sophomore outside hitter/DS Mackenzie Eason.
“She is athletic and can cover a lot of ground,” Curry said of Pierce.
“Amaya Beckwith is new to setting this year and has done an exceptional job at stepping up,” Curry said. “Evalyn Dang did an amazing job playing both on and off the net. Mackenzie Eason is a multi-skilled player playing tonight both front and back row.”
While Parkway and Captain Shreve are both District 1-I members, Thursday’s match was not a designated district contest. The Lady Panthers return to action Monday with a 5 p.m. non-district match at Calvary Baptist.
At Caddo Magnet, Benton found itself trailing 16-11 in the third set after the teams split the first two. But the Lady Tigers reeled off 10 straight points en route to taking a two sets to one lead.
Loyola dominated the fourth set and continued to have the upper hand in the fifth, jumping out an 8-4 lead. But the Lady Tigers regrouped and won 11 of the next 14 points to take the match.
Benton got contributions from every player that saw action.
Erin Martin and Daly Nagot led the Lady Tigers in kills with seven each. Martin also had seven digs and two aces. Nagot added three blocks, three digs and one ace.
Gracyn Badiali had five kills, four aces and one block. Abby Schroeder led the team in aces with five. She also had four kills and two blocks.
Andie Taylor had a team-high six blocks along with two kills and one ace.
Tatum Waites had five digs. Kaitlyn Masters had two kills and two digs. Macie Nance had three kills and one block.
Emma Hoffman had one ace, one kill and one dig. Harlie Erickson and Kylie Ortiz had two digs each.
Benton hosts Pineville in a District 1-I match Tuesday at 6.
At Caddo Magnet, Airline rallied from a 19-16 deficit to take the first set. The Lady Vikings then dominated the second. The Lady Mustangs kept it close in the third but Airline pulled away late for the win.
Ariana Wilkinson had eight aces, 14 assists, four digs, one block and one kill.
Elizabeth Gatti had six kills, six assists, one block and one dig. Jaci Ervin had nine digs, two aces and one kill. Jacque Deville had four kills, three blocks, one ace and one dig.
Airline returns to District 1-I play Tuesday at West Monroe.
At Ruston, Adrienne Vickers led Haughton in kills with six. She also had one block.
Jaycie Keith had a solid match with five kills and five digs. Kaely Bettisworth had a team-high seven digs.
Mia McWilliams led the team in assists with seven and had one kill. Taralyn Sweeney had three kills.
Haughton hosts Airline in a non-district match Thursday at 5.
NOTE: Individual match statistics provided by coaches.
