Randall sweeps rival West Plains in first ever meeting
Canyon ISD has definitely found a new intense rivalry.
Fans packed the West Plains Gym to capacity making for an electric environment when Randall squared off with the Lady Wolves in a battle of unbeaten District 4-4A opponents on Tuesday night.
Between two schools that have so much in common from the recent split of students heading into the fall, both teams were eager to show who was the best. On Tuesday, it was Randall showing they were the better team in this first of two district meetings as the Lady Raiders got the early hand taking advantage of the match early by using stingy defense to gain a 25-19, 25-14, 25-16 sweep of West Plains in this first chapter of an ever-growing feud.
“This was more of a mental battle for us to come in and play against former players and friends,” Randall head volleyball coach Haleigh Burns said. “It’s fun to play these types of games and I think we made a statement. We’ve been working to beat the teams we need to beat. It was a good win for Randall.”
Randall (23-8 overall) stays a top the District 4-4A standings with a perfect mark of 4-0. West Plains (24-4) suffers its first defeat in district falling to 3-1.
The Lady Raiders defense made life tough for West Plains. Randall had a 68 percent side out percentage and totaled nine blocks. Tatum Brandt had a game-high 37 digs, Brooke Henderson had 11 digs, and Jordyn Gove added 10. The Sidney Soria to Gove connection was also hard to stop. Gove knocked down 14 kills for her third straight double-double, as Soria dished out 39 assists.
Jayli Franklin led the Lady Wolves with 12 kills and McCall Sims added 21 digs.
Canyon sweeps Borger
The Canyon Lady Eagles bounced back from a pair of losses to down Borger, 25-16, 25-19, 25-19, at home on Tuesday.
The Lady Eagles snap a two-game losing skid improving to 7-24 overall but more importantly 2-2 in District 4-4A. Borger falls to 1-3 in district and 15-11 overall.
Sydney Winfrey led the Lady Eagles with nine kills followed by Rylan Johnson and Callie McKinley’s seven kills apiece. Brooklyn Kinsey handed out 12 assists and Riley Snelson registered 16 digs.
Adraya Loftis had eight kills with six blocks and Emilee Bridges knocked down seven kills to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
Pampa finds the district win column
After a rough start to District 4-4A, the Pampa Lady Harvesters were able to earn their first league win getting a sweep of Perryton 25-12, 25-15, 25-8, at home.
Pampa is now 1-3 in district and 17-11 overall. Perryton (11-14) drops to 0-4 in league action.
Mikalie Floyd did the damage for Pampa hammering down 14 kills with nine digs. Maecie Hawthorne tallied 34 assists with four aces and Mazi Smith added 11 kills.
Hereford-Dumas postponed
Due to an official scheduling issue the District 4-4A match between Hereford and Dumas has been moved from to 6 p.m. Thursday night in Dumas.
District 1-2A
Sanford-Fritch, WT High open district with wins
District 1-2A officially got underway on Tuesday night. The Sanford-Fritch Lady Eagles got past a much-improved Vega squad, 25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 25-18.
Avery Conner had a huge performance for the Lady Eagles registering 21 kills with four blocks. Saydee Williams was equally impressive with 19 kills and Zoe Deatherage and Kinley Roberts handed out a combined 19 assists.
Vega’s Kami Drinnon was clutch despite the loss with 18 kills and Jaz Martinez added nine. Sanford-Fritch is 12-12 overall and 1-0 in District 1-2A. Vega falls to 0-1 in district and 7-15 overall.
West Texas High opened league play getting a sweep of Memphis, 25-11, 25-14, 25-12.
The Lady Comanches are 1-0 in district with the victory and 7-12 overall. Memphis is 0-1 in district and also 7-12 overall.
WT High’s Zoe Smith was stellar racking up 20 kills. Sage Lay had five aces and teammate Addison Lindley finished with four aces.
Non-district notes
Bushland ended non-district play in grand fashion taking down Class 5A Tascosa, 25-10, 25-17, 25-16.
The two-time Class 3A defending state champions end the non-district schedule with a 26-4 mark. Bushland opens 1-3A play at Friona at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Lady Falcons have an incredible 73-game district win streak that dates back to Oct. 18, 2011.
As for the win over Tascosa, Abby Howell and Madyson Eberly each had seven kills. Eberly added three blocks with two aces. Logan Culpepper and Kenzie Sims combined for 28 assists and 11 kills. Tascosa falls to 17-14 overall.
Amarillo High ended non-district play sweeping Dalhart 25-13, 25-17, 25-15. The Lady Sandies (23-9) will open District 3-5A action at home against Caprock on Saturday.
Jaycee Scott powered home 10 kills for the Lady Sandies in the victory and Sienna Cavalier tallied eight kills with seven digs.
Highland Park had a bye to open District 1-2A, so the Lady Hornets finished non-district with a win over Tulia, 25-11, 25-10, 25-16. Highland Park improves to 22-7 overall.
Kyra Courtemanache knocked down 17 kills and Mercedes Harton finished with a double-double handing out 30 assists with 12 digs to go with three aces.
There were some milestones with this victory. Harton hit 150 aces and 150 blocks for her career, and teammate Braylee Lewis passed the 500 digs mark for her career.