The Lady Dawgs picked up where they left off against Foster earlier in the afternoon by jumping on top 15-5 before the Lady Oilers knew what bit them. The Pearland Lady Oilers settled down and the teams basically traded points to end game 1 with Magnolia winning 25-17. Britttany Wheaton continued her stellar play in back row with some amazing digs and she also had 2 service aces to lead the team to its G1 win. The '3 Amigas' (seniors MB Hannah Fort, OH Alicia Shaffer, and MB Michele Williams) led the team offensively with 3 kills each.
Game 2 was a true classic with both teams battling hard and furious to a 10-10 draw early on. From that point on, the teams traded points until Pearland began pulling away at 15-18. A back row kill by Alicia Shaffer and an ace serve by Jamie Kaleh along with a nice dig by Alicia and block assist by Hannah Fort and Alicia brought the Dawgs back to even at 18-18. A Hannah Fort solo block and block assist with Kelli Stewart gave the Dawgs a 21-19 lead heading down the stretch before the Oilers rallied to tie the game at 21-21. A kill by Alicia and a Michele "Boom Boom" Williams slam had the Dawgs up 24-23 and smelling victory. However, an unforced error and two Pearland kills closed the door on the Lady Dawgs at 24-26. The inability to put the talented Lady Oilers away would prove to be costly and hopefully a hard lesson learned as the Dawgs move on in their quest to win their first ever state championship volleyball title at the 5A level.
Game 3 was a battle of wills from the very first point as both team battled for every ball on the court and near the net. An early ace by Alicia Shaffer and back-to-back kills by Hannah Fort and Michele Williams mixed in with some excellent defensive plays by Brittany Wheaton and the Lady Dawgs were even at 10-10. A couple of ace serves by Alicia on 2nd rotation and the teams were knotted up again at 13-13. A Jamie Kaleh kill several points later and the Dawgs were up 17-16 heading down the stretch. A 4 point run for the Lady Oilers had them up 17-20 before Alicia Shaffer's solo block helped cut the margin to 19-20. Another Alicia kill cut the margin to 20-21 before the Pearland ladies went on a closing 4-1 run with a couple of blocks at the net to end the contest. The Lady Dawgs committed 13 unforced errors in game 3 and only had 1 block in this rubber game which contriubuted to their loss.
Shaffer and Michele Williams led the Lady Dawgs with 10 kills each. Hannah Fort had 4 block assists and one solo block to lead the team in that category. Alicia also was credited with 3 service aces for the contest and Brittany Wheaton contibuted one ace.
It doesn't get any easier for our traveling band of warriors. Next up is another top 10 state ranked foe and former district rival, and currently undefeated Cy-Fair High School at their place on Friday at 6:30 PM. Come on out and support the Lady Dawgs. This will be another epic battle of volleyball Titans in the Houston area.
submitted by reporter: RallyTymeMHS
edited by: MagnoliaBigDog
GO LADY BULLDOGS!!
