Mexia falls victim to Lady Goats

The Mexia Ladycats saw their season record evened at 2-2 after the Groesbeck Lady Goats beat them in three sets in the Groesbeck Gym Tuesday, August 18. Groesbeck remained unbeaten at 5-0 after taking down the visitors 13, 16, and 10.

The Lady Goats demonstrated the value of good setting as their setters, mainly Breann Connally, but also continually set up kill shots for the left outside hitter to put away the Ladycats. Brandi Connally stood out at that spot as she put down six kills in the first set, nine kills in the second set and three kills in the third set.

But she wasn’t the only Lady Goat claiming that left outside hitter spot as her personal territory. Breann Bradley knocked in six kills from there including the final point of the match in a 25-10 third set win. Both Connally and Bradley hit most of their smashes across the court in this match though both of them have availed themselves of the left-back corner just inside the line in prior matches.

Mexia offered little resistance to the Groesbeck offense in the first set falling behind quickly 9-2, then 16-6 and 20-12. Bradley put the coup de gras on the Ladycats after that getting the serve back to Groesbeck with a kill followed by another kill as Camryn ward served. Ward then added an ace. A Mexia timeout slowed down Ward’s momentum and she served long following the break in the action. But Mexia served long right back putting the score at setpoint 24-13. Bradley served an ace to get the win 25-12.

In the second set, the Lady Goats jumped ahead 7-0 as Brandi Connally made three kills and a block and sophomore middle hitter Marlee Price made a kill. Price blocked a Mexia hit for an 8-2 lead from the right outside hitter spot. She stayed in on the rotation and went back to serve. She was the beneficiary of kills by Brandi, Brooke Van Winkle, and Breann Connally on her first three serves. Then a Mexia kill ended her run .

The momentum quickly swung back to Groesbeck as both Connallies and Van Winkle put in points, Brandi with a kill and an ace, Breann with an ace and Van Winkle with a kill. Groesbeck led 17-4. Brandi Connally had a run of three more kills before serving an ace to win the set 25-16.

In the third set, Kayla Menzel started the Lady Goats off with a kill for the first point. Mexia got its only lead of the match going ahead 1-2, 4-5, and 5-6 before Groesbeck tied the score on a Bradley kill. Bradley added two more in a row to put the Lady Goats ahead for good. Kayla Evans made two kills and Amiah Dunn made a kill and a block as the Lady Goats mopped up the Ladycats. Brandi Connally and Breann Connally each had two more kills. Brianna Dobson served two aces. And Bradley had two more kills including the match point winner.

A review of the statistics had Brandi Connally with 18 kills and three aces. Brean Connally made six kills, three blocks, and one ace. Van Winkle had four kills. Bradley had six kills and an ace. Ward had one ace. Price had a block and an ace. Dobbins made three aces. Evans had two kills, Menzel one kill, and Dunn a kill and a block.

For Mexia, Micahlah Miller made four kills and a block. Destiny Bailey had two kills and three blocks. Ny’Janae Lee had two kills. Gwendolyn Johnson made two kills.