Lady Cardinals top Lady Bobcats in volleyball

The same week Bridge City and Orangefield were staging the annual Bayou Bowl in football the two schools played an exciting volleyball match. The Lady Cardinals defeated the Lady Bobcats in four sets on Tuesday, August 22, at the Orangefield Gymnasium.

Playing on their home court the Lady Bobcats took an early lead in the first set when Orangefield won five of the first six points. Two later points went to the Lady Bobcats when serves by Lela Francis could not be returned by the Lady Cardinals as Orangefield took a 14-7 advantage.

Bridge City grabbed four straight points to close the gap to four points at 22-18 in favor of Orangefield. Lady Bobcat Greenlea Oldham made a kill and an errant serve by the Lady Cardinals ended the first set 25-19 in favor of the Lady Bobcats.

The second set began in a similar fashion with Orangefield going up 7-3 before Bridge City went on an extended run. The Lady Cardinals banged home fourteen of the next fifteen points led by three kills apiece from Demi Carter and Nicole Sasser who returned after being out earlier this season with a leg injury.

Enjoying a nine-point cushion 17-8 the Lady Cardinals closed out the second set 25-14 to even the match. Carter added three more kills and Makenna Knight chipped in with two kills to help give Bridge City the set.

The Lady Cardinals picked up where they left off as the match moved to the third set. Bridge City jumped to an 8-3 lead and extended its lead to nine points 19-10 after taking six consecutive volleys.

Three straight points by the Lady Bobcats got the hometown fans hoping for a comeback, but the Lady Cardinals won six of the last eight volleys to take the set 25-15 and the lead two sets to one in the match.

The fourth set was the best of the match with momentum swinging back and forth between the two teams. Bridge City got two unreturnable serves from Cambree LaComb and a sensational dig by Lexi Nugier that actually won a point to give the Lady Cardinals a 13-5 advantage.

Not giving up Orangefield rebounded using three kills by Kaitlyn Jenkins and an unreturnable serve from Brianna Moore to narrow the deficit to four points. Carter and Knight combined for four kills as Bridge City grabbed six of the next eight points for a 23-15 score.

The Lady Bobcats won a point to get the serve back, and Kaylea Gravett made two very good serves that were unreturnable to pull Orangefield within five points. Lady Cardinal Demi Carter followed with two kills that earned Bridge City the set 25-20 to capture the match three sets to one.

Recent callup to the Orangefield varsity Mikayla Locke played a strong game with 13 digs on the back row. Setter Cambree LaComb of Bridge City had a great night assisting the other Lady Cardinals for kills.

Coach Savanah DeLuna of Bridge City was proud of how her Lady Cardinals battled. "It's always good to come out with a win. We kind of beat ourselves in the game. Seasons are full of hills and valleys, so tonight we didn't play our very best, but we came out with a win and that's kind of all you can ask for since the Lady Cardinals fought through it," Deluna replied.