Published: October 11, 2008 01:20 pm            

Lady Jackets swept by Lady Lions

ENNIS — The Cleburne Lady Jackets went into Friday’s match against Ennis in need of a win to stay ahead of the Lady Lions in the District 16-4A standings, but fell in three games, 25-17, 25-16, 25-15, to drop into a tie for fourth place at 5-4 with five matches to go in the regular season.

Ennis took control of Game 1 early, claiming a 3-2 lead when Cleburne (10-20) served the ball out of bounds and the Lady Lions never trailed again in picking up the eight point victory.

Ennis turned the 3-2 lead into a 14-6 advantage behind solid jump serving which culminated in six aces during the first game.

After a Callie McNulty kill closed the deficit to 14-8, the teams traded points until Tedi Schmidt scored off an assist by Lacy Stinebaugh.

Cleburne cut the lead to as few as seven before Ennis recorded a cross court kill to end the game.

The Lady Jackets started Game 2 by taking a 4-1 lead behind kills from Kiley Beard and Morgan Brown, along with a block by Aley Zachary. But the Lady Lions rallied for three straight points to tie the score at 4-4, and Ennis eventually stretched the run to five for a 6-4 lead.

Trailing 12-7, Becca Anderson had consecutive kills and a block to cut the lead to 12-10, but the Lady Jackets were unable to get any closer the rest of the way.

Ennis took a 21-15 lead before Zachary and Anderson combined on a block for a point, but Cleburne failed to score again in dropping Game 2, 25-16.

The third game featured six ties as neither team could gain the upper hand in the early stages of the game. Brown recorded back-to-back kills and Ennis hit the ball out of bounds as the Lady Jackets took a 10-7 lead, but the Lady Lions knotted the score at 10 when Cleburne hit the ball into the net.

The Lady Jackets were unable to return the ensuing serve, giving Ennis an 11-10 lead it didn’t relinquish.

With Cleburne trailing 22-12, Brown had a kill off an assist by Sarah Rosser and Beard served an ace to make it 22-14.

An Ennis error led to Cleburne’s third straight point, but the Lady Lions closed out the victory.

        

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