Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Thanks to win over La Vega, the Gatesville volleyball team controls it’s own destiny in their hunt for a 21st consecutive playoff berth.
The Lady Hornets dropped the Lady Pirates in three sets (25-10, 25-15, 26-24) on Oct. 6 then fell to Robinson in four (25-13, 25-15, 12-25, 25-17) to open the second round of district play.
With a record of 2-4 through six league games, the Hornets currently sit fourth in District 23-4A. No. 15 Salado is 6-0 in district and has played in just twenty sets in district – winning 18. China Spring is at 5-1 with their only loss coming against Salado.
Robinson sits third and holds the tiebreaker over Gatesville with a district record of 4-2. They have the tiebreaker by virtue of two head-to-head wins against the Lady Hornets in district play.
If the Lady Hornets hold serve in the second half of district and beat Connally and La Vega in those rematches, then they will clinch another playoff berth. They still hold an outside shot at moving up in the final standings, and the most likely result would be moving up to the No. 3 spot by winning three of their final four games and Robinson losing their remaining four games.
In 2022, Gatesville won their final five district games to finish third behind Salado and China Spring.
The win over La Vega featured a third-set comeback after a dominating performance in the first two sets. The Lady Hornets faced deficits as large as six points at 18-12 and 19-13 before clawing back.
Down 18-12, a block from Addison Taylor cut the lead to 18-13, but La Vega took the next point to up the lead back to six at 19-13. From there it was all Gatesville.
A kill from Barrett Boyd made it 19-14, and then Anna McPherson drilled a winner to make it 19-15. Boyd followed with another kill to cut the lead to 19-16 before La Vega picked up a point to make it 20-16.
McPherson dropped in a winner to make it 20-17. Then Boyd picked up another to make it 20-18. Emma Pollard took over from there as she picked up four straight points at the net. First, she took an assist from Taylor Sanderson and drove home a point to make it 21-19. Then she scored again to cut the lead to 21-20.
The sophomore drilled an errant La Vega pass for a point to tie the game at 21-21. Then she combined with Sanderson for a block to give Gatesville their first lead at 22-21.
The Lady Hornets led 23-21 and had match point at 24-22 before La Vega scored twice to make it a 24-24 game. A pair of errors from La Vega gave Gatesville the final two points and the win.
Gatesville was at China Spring on Oct. 13 then returns home to face Connally on Oct. 17. They will host Salado on Oct. 20. Then they will make their last regular season road trip on Oct. 20 to La Vega.
