The Magnolia High School Lady Bulldogs gave it all they had, but came up short against the seasoned, top ranked Hereford Lady Whiteface (44-3) in the Texas state 4A semifinals this evening, falling in 3 (25-18, 30-28, 25-19) tough, hard-played sets. Try as they may, the DAWGS stepped it up nearly even-ing the match in their second set, but Hereford wouldn't be derailed en route to their fifth state championship as the experienced, and impressive incumbent.
The following was condensed from LoneStar Volleyball posts:
In the first set, Natasha Giacomazzi had a couple of aces as the Lady Whiteface from Hereford (43-3) jumped to a 5-1 early lead on the Magnolia Lady Bulldogs, forcing a Magnolia time out in the 4A semifinal. When play resumed, Carley McCracken and Raegan Shelton unloaded on Magnolia and led by 8 at 13-5 in game one. Magnolia's defense had their hands full. Kelli Stewart had a couple of big kills and a block as Magnolia pulled within 5 at 16-11 and again at 18-13, but Hereford had way too many weapons for Magnolia to handle and took game one 25-18.
Magnolia settled down and came out strong as Kelli Stewart gave the Lady Bulldogs a 7-4 lead to start game two. The DAWGS expanded their lead as Meagan Little's ace gave Magnolia a 5 point lead at 14-9, which forced a Hereford time out. Meagan Little and Katzy Randall combined on a block to put Magnolia up 20-15, but a Hereford block, a Magnolia mistake and a kill by Andee Josserand cut the lead to 20-18. Kelli Stewart put Magnolia up 22-20 Josserand pulled Hereford within 1 at 22-21. Diane Knight's stuff tied it .Josserand's blast gave Hereford the lead 23-22 and Magnolia called time out. Both teams were playing at an intense level. Kelli Stewart on the slide to the middle made it 23-23. Hereford answered on Josserand's blast from the left 24-23, then committed a violation tying the score at 24-24. Katzy Randall's cross court kill put Magnolia up 25-24... Time out called by Hereford ...When time resumed, Shelton off the block tied it again at 25-25; Knight on the block put Hereford up at 26-25, when Meagan Little tied it once again, from the middle 26-26. Hereford went ahead at 27-26 on a Magnolia hitting error; then Meagan Little's soft dink in the middle tied it at 27-27.. Hereford went ahead 28-27 with the DAWGS getting into the net, then tied again at 28-28 with Josserand into the net. Hereford went up 29-28 with Josserand on a great save, then finished it 30-28 with McCracken on the stuff. The DAWGS dropped a close one, and now trailed 0-2 in the best 3-out-of-5 series.
Raegan Shelton had Hereford off to a fast start and a 9-5 lead in the third set., when timeout was called by Magnolia. Josserand gave Hereford a 2 point lead at 16-14 after Magnolia fought back from being 5 down at 14-9. Hereford started rolling from then on. Shelton's rip from the left gave Hereford a 21-15 lead. Hereford left no doubt in game three as they completely dominated the net on offense and defense to finish off the sweep at 25-19.
Magnolia was led by Meagan Little’s 9 kills in the middle. Courtney Felinksi and Kelli Stewart each had 8 and Katzy Randall had 7 as Paige Holland (29) continually looked for an offensive spark. Felinski and Randall are sophomores, “and I thought our sophomores really carried the load tonight,” said Johnson. “I was very proud of them.”
Magnolia: Paige Holland - 29 assists, 8 digs, 3 BA Angi Gould - 2 assists, 1 ace, 8 digs; Meagan Little - 9 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 1 BS, 1 BA Courtney Felinski - 8 kills, 1 BS, 1 BA Kelli Stewart - 8 kills, 9 digs, Katzy Randall - 7 kills, 11 digs, 1 BA Hannah Davies - 1 assist, 10 digs Breane Matula - 3 kills, 2 digs, 1 BA
