Kilgore in a battle to make the postseason

Oct. 16—EDITOR'S NOTE — Because of deadline times and constraints, these are Tuesday's games; for an update on games from Friday night, see kilgorenewsherald.com now.

Running into Bullard in volleyball is always a challenge, and while Kilgore did put up a fight, the District 16-4A defending champ did go over once again Tuesday night, on their senior night.

Bullard defeated Kilgore in three sets, two of them close, 25-10, 25-21, 27-25. The Lady Panthers look to successfully defend their title, as the regular season is winding down very quickly.

Kilgore (3-6 in 16-4A play) has to earn one of the top four spots in the seven-team district to get into the University Interscholastic League's Class 4A playoffs. It may be as the fourth seed: Bullard, Lindale, Spring Hill, and Henderson are all currently in front of the Lady 'Dogs, with three regular season games left. And Chapel Hill isn't mathematically out of it, either.

KHS was to host Chapel Hill this Friday, host Lindale this coming Tuesday, and then visit Henderson in the regular season finale next Friday, Oct. 22, again starting with varsity at 4:30 that day. The Kilgore-Lindale game should be as normal, with freshmen starting at 4:30 p.m., then junior varsity and varsity to follow.

Henderson beat Kilgore in the first round of district play, and Kilgore beat Chapel Hill.

The Lady Bulldogs have made the postseason in the previous two years under coach Madeline Harris, in her third year in the post. Kilgore hasn't missed the playoffs since 2016, and has made the playoffs five of the last six seasons.

Against Bullard, freshman Brooke Couch, Bryonne Brooks and Summer Hayden-Epps each had five kills, and Maleah Thurmond and Catherine Dennis each had four. Couch and Dennis each had seven digs; Dennis also had a block and an ace. Hayden-Epps had five digs; Brooks had three; and Thurmond had two, and a block.

Also for the Lady 'Dogs, Ashton Vallery had 11 assists, seven digs, and a kill; Jazmine Vasquez had 16 digs; Alana Mumphrey had eight assists and two digs; Isabell Witt had five digs; Nawny Sifford had four; Fyndi Henry had two; and Maddison Harris had one.

Overton: The Lady Mustangs are getting it done — Overton got its seventh district win Tuesday night at Big Sandy, in four sets: 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23.

Overton moves to 7-2 in district play (in Class 2A) and 23-11 overall. They were to play at Union Hill on Friday.

Mary Fenter had 16 kills, 27 digs and two assists. Kayla Nobles had eight kills and two blocks. Alex Brown had seven kills, 18 digs and an ace. Kaley McMillian had five kills, two blocks, five digs, 34 assists and three aces. And Avery Smith had three kills, 21 digs and an ace.

Sabine: The Lady Cardinals stepped out of district play, where they've won three of their last five, and ran into a scrappy East Texas Homeschool Lady Chargers team. ETHS managed to hang on and beat Sabine in four sets, 22-25, 27-25, 28-26, 25-19.

From M. Roberts Media on the matchup:

Meredith Corley and Hannah Simpson combined for 45 assists, Jordan Parker and Jenna Cleveland had a combined 38 kills and the East Texas Homeschool Lady Chargers rallied for a win over the Sabine Lady Cardinals.

Corley had 29 assists, 11 points and four aces, Simpson 16 assists, 11 points, eight digs and two aces, Jordan Parker 20 kills, 18 digs and three blocks and Cleveland 18 kills, four digs, four blocks and three points.

Abby Campbell chipped in with 12 digs, six kills, six points and two aces for ET Homeschool. Jenna Parker had a team-leading 32 digs to go along with four points. Rebekah Dragoo added 10 points and 16 digs, Skye Cotton five points, six digs and two kills, Sydney Cunningham three digs and three kills and Jourdan Sikorski five digs.

Sabine was to host Daingerfield Friday. The Lady Cardinals are 23-12 overall and 6-2 in district play.