By Gene Schallenberg
GROVETON — The Lady Bulldogs couldn’t conjure up the kind of magic that helped them notch their first playoff victory on Thursday at Groveton.
New Waverly dug itself into too big of a hole in each of the three sets and were eliminated from the Class 2A playoffs by 19th-ranked Warren 25-15, 25-16 and 25-20.
“It was a good game,” Lady Bulldogs senior Mallory Eastland said. “We got down a little, but we’re a fighting team. We fought back in that last game. Even though we lost, I couldn’t be any more proud of our team.”
After jumping out to a solid start in the first game, mental errors started to pile up on New Waverly.
The Lady Bulldogs (23-13) trailed 10-9, but Warren senior middle hitter Shaina Brent hit a couple of spikes to give the Lady Warriors a three-point lead. Then New Waverly hit the ball out of bounds on the next few points and Warren ran away with the game.
The Lady Bulldogs ran into the same kind of trouble in the second game and fell behind 13-2 to begin the game.
Then New Waverly began to rally thanks to spikes by junior Kayla Munoz and senior Alena Salinas, coupled with mental errors by Warren (38-4) to get the Lady Dogs to within six at 15-9.
Warren regrouped and jumped out to a 20-9 lead.
New Waverly tried to claw back, winning the next five points to get within six again. But Warren regained its composure and closed the game winning five of the final seven points.
The deciding game was the closest one of the three, but this time the Lady Dogs kept it close throughout.
New Waverly trailed by one at 17-16 after Eastland scored an ace, but then Warren junior outside hitter Ciara Wisecup scored a couple of kills down the stretch.
The Lady Warriors clinched the match when Brent hit two straight aces.
“I think we could’ve played better,” New Waverly head coach Stacy Hill said, “but of course you always think you can play better. It was a mentally challenging game. It was quite possibly the best team we saw all year long. It’s tough, it really is.
“At the end of the season when you’ve done something no other team in our school history has done, you look back over your season and you can be proud of it.”
