Lady Bison find their stride

Lady Bison Kelsey Canady sets up to slap the ball over the net. The young Lady Bison volleyball team is starting to gel, as evidenced by their play this weekend in the Centerville Tournament. The girls took third in the Challengers bracket of the tough tournament, but more important than taking home some hardware, Coach Daryl Skelton pointed out, “They’re playing more as a team, depending more on each other, talking more -- they’re having fun! I’m very, very pleased.”

In pool play on Thursday, the Lady Bison lost to a tough Mexia team in two games, 16-25 and 19-25. BHS gave the Lady ‘Cats a run for their money, and held a solid lead for much of the second game, until Mexia’s libero went on a serving run. BHS next beat Groveton in two games, 25- 15 and 25-8. Finally, they lost to North Zulch, 12-25 and 16-25.

In bracket play on Saturday the Lady Bison won their early game, defeating Dimebox handily, 25-12 and 25- 11. Their next opponent was a solid Madisonville team, and the Lady Bison fell in a noble effort, losing 20-25 and 22-25. “We lost, but I wasn’t upset -- we played real well,” Coach Skelton pointed out. The loss sent the girls to the Challenger’s bracket in the afternoon.

Lindsey McGill digs out a tough serve. Van The girls’ final match was a victory over Coolidge, whom they defeated 25-15 and 25-19, securing 3rd place. Coach Skelton concluded, “That’s a tough tournament. I’ll take 3rd in the Challenger’s bracket any day!”

VS PALESTINE

The Lady Bison hosted Palestine in three matches on Tuesday afternoon. BHS came away with wins at the sub-varsity level and the Varsity girls took the match to four games before dropping the match to the Lady 'Cats.

Freshman Kortni Hibbard’s impressive run of service points led her team to a win over Palestine. VARSITY

On Tuesday, Coach Daryl Skelton strengthened his young team with a few more youngsters, pulling libero Hannah Wilson up from JV and Hannah Laningham up from the freshman team. The girls were introduced to varsity level volleyball the hard way, as Palestine High brought a tall, athletic and vocal team to the contest. The whole BHS seemed a little intimidated in the first game of the match and made more than their share of errors, falling quickly, 9-25.

The Lady Bison played much better game in Game Two. Buffalo had the lead early, 3-2 then PHS began to click and jumped up by five, 10-15. Buffalo took the next few volleys and pulled to within 3, but that was as close as they could get and Palestine won the game, 12-25.

Game Three was the highlight of the evening for BHS fans. Shelby Ballard started things off right, serving to a 3-0 Lady Bison lead. Solid play and teamwork by Buffalo stretched that lead to 7-4, then TiOnna Adams stepped to the line and improved the Lady Bison advantage to 15-4. This time it was Buffalo's turn to capitalize on PHS errors, and they did just that, holding the 'Cats off for a 25-18 win to force Game Four.

The girls played well in the final game of the match, tying the game at 6-6 and 10- 10, but the 'Cats scratched out a few more points and BHS was playing catch-up the rest of the game. PHS took the game and the match with a 19-25 victory.

Leading the Lady Bison effort was Adams with 14 assists, Reagan Read with 7 kills, Emily Grissett with 6 kills, Hannah Laningham with 5 kills, and Lindsey McGill with 8 digs.

Coach Skelton summed up, "I'm trying some people out, seeing if we can get some cohesiveness. Palestine did things that we're not used to seeing."

JUNIOR VARSITY

The JV girls had a solid match with the Lady 'Cats, and won in two straight games, 25-18 and 25-14. Alex Jenkins led her teammates in kills with 4. Kaila Ward led in service points with 8, including a six-point run in Game Two. Kylen Armstrong was also a big factor at the serving line, with 5 aces. Armstrong and the Lady Bison finished Palestine off with five straight service points.

FRESHMEN

The freshmen team roster was down by two, with Laningham and Ballard working with the Varsity girls, but the remaining 9th graders pulled together for a solid win over Palestine, 25-16, 25-7. Kortni Hibbard started things off in Game One with a long service run, launching the Lady Bison to a hefty 8-0 lead. The Lady Bison slipped into Error Mode and let the 'Cats claw their way back into the contest, 11-10, before pulling things back together. Jade Morales served a four-point run as BHS went on for the win. Game Two again saw Hibbard serve up a big lead for the Lady Bison 9-0, and the Palestine team was never able to get a foothold in the game. Katie Glick served out with four aces to nail the lid on the PHS coffin.

THIS WEEK the Varsity girls play in Oakwood on Tuesday and the JV and Freshmen will be in tournament play in Centerville on Thursday and Saturday.