Lady Cardinals advance in volleyball playoffs

The queens of Orange County volleyball had their crowns jostled in the middle of October before getting them straightened last week. The Bridge City Lady Cardinals are the champions of District 19-4A, and topped that by winning their bi-district match with Hardin-Jefferson in four sets to advance to the area round of the state playoffs.

The Lady Cardinals came out and took the first two sets 25-16 and 25-21 before Hardin-Jefferson narrowed the lead taking the third set 18-25. Bridge City rebounded grabbing the fourth set 25-14 to advance to the next round of the state playoffs against Henderson on Thursday, November 2, at 6:30 PM in Huntington High School Gym.

Bridge City lost back to back matches October 13 and October 17 to Vidor and Lumberton. The Lady Cardinals forfeited an earlier match with Lumberton which created a three-way tie between Bridge City, Vidor and Lumberton at the top of the volleyball district standings.

The Lady Cardinals won in three sets 25-22, 25-11, 25-19 over Lumberton on Thursday, October 26, for the right to play Vidor for the first seed in district. Bridge City took the win in four sets 25-12, 25-18, 24-26, 25-17 over Vidor the next night to claim the first seed for the playoffs.

The Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears volleyball team completed their season on Monday, October 30. The Lady Bears were defeated by Huffman in three sets during the first round of the state playoffs.

The regular season concluded on Tuesday, October 24, for Little Cypress Mauriceville. The Lady Bears swept Silsbee 25-17, 25-15, 25-12 to finish district as the fourth seed with a record of 8-4 and were 24-17 overall on their season.

Lady Bear leaders in the match against Silsbee were Paisley Angelle with 9 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Lindi Perry had 7 kills and 2 blocks. Asia Woodson made 3 blocks, 2 aces, with 6 kills. Addie Russell topped LCM with 15 assists and she served an ace. Jada Montagne had 12 assists and served 2 aces. Ava White hit 6 kill shots, made 1 assist, and served 1 ace. LCM also got contributions from Amaya Meadows, Jazel Guilbeaux, and Lexi Tubbleville.

The Orangefield Lady Bobcats entered the volleyball post season as the third seed in District 22-3A. The Lady Bobcats played Diboll on Tuesday, October 31, in the bi-district round of the playoffs.

A week earlier Orangefield won a thrilling five set match with Anahuac to conclude the district schedule. With the win the Lady Bobcats earned a share of the district championship their first since 2012.

Orangefield won the opening set 25-20 before losing the next two sets 20-25 and 15-25. The Lady Bobcats rallied taking the fourth set 25-22 before bouncing over Anahuac 15-5 to capture the deciding set.

Senior Lela Francis had a great night serving 7 aces, making 12 kills, and blocking 3 volleys. Greenlea Oldham led the Lady Bobcats with 18 kills and Brianna Moore was the Orangefield leader with 42 assists. Other strong contributions were made by Hannah Block with 18 digs and Eliese Gravett with 16 digs, while Kaitlyn Jenkins made 2 blocks.

Orangefield lost a seeding contest with Buna on Thursday, October 26. For the second time in nine days the Lady Bobcats won the first set before the Lady Cougars won three straight sets to take the match.

Leaders for Orangefield in the tough loss were Greenlea Oldham with 12 kills and 2 blocks, Brianna Moore with 36 assists, and Kaylea Gravett with 11 digs. Moore and Lela Francis both served one ace.