By JIM OTTS
Register Correspondent
WEATHERFORD - The Lindsay Lady Knights earned the team's first berth in the State Championship Volleyball Tournament with a victory over the Cayuga Lady Cats Saturday night in the Class A, Region II tournament.
The Lady Knights whipped Cayuga 25-16, 25-8, 23-25 and 25-17 using an adjusted attack.
The Lady Cats began with a concentrated blocking scheme to take away a lot of the power hitting Lindsay normally presents from the middle blocker position.
It worked somewhat since senior slammer Kaylee Murphree was limited to 11 kills, good by most standards but far below her average.
The Lady Cats found there is more than one dimension to the Lady Knight attack, however.
Kristin Martin, with 18 kills, Allison Metzler, with nine, Jordan Fleitman, with seven, and Taylor Atkins, with four, peppered the Cayuga defenders from the outside.
“They did what we expected them to do and we had a 40-minute walk through before the match to get ready,” coach Bridget Anderle said. “We just went to the outside hitters.”
The Lady Knights made it look easy through the first two games.
In the first game Lindsay jumped to a 5-2 advantage early and built on that. Martin had a service run of eight points during which Fleitman added two of her kills and floor general and setter Brenna Mlinar scored twice by faking a set and hammering the ball into open space instead.
Game two went much the same. Martin started her serve with the Lady Knights ahead 5-4 and the Black and White added 10 during her run. Metzler had four of her kills in that stint and Murphree added two of her kills and, just as effectively, faked the kill and finesse-touched the ball into open spaces twice.
Everything went a little haywire in game three.
“They had to make adjustments,” Anderle said. “The changes confused them a little because they had rotation fouls called when they put people in different positions, but it confused us, too, and the momentum shifted.”
The game was tied five times and the lead changed hands three times down the stretch, but Cayuga pulled off the 25-23 win at the end with strong kills from Shelby Henry and Shawna Knox, two girls who had spent most of the night trying to stop Murphree.
“We had to work hard to get the momentum back,” Anderle said.
Sometimes overshadowed by the all the power hitting Lindsay is capable of is the strong defensive play. The Lady Knights do not let many drives and lobs and finesse shots get to the floor.
Libero Alyx Ethington, Mlinar, Katie Arendt and all the power hitters who also possess quick feet and hands stymied Henry, Knox and another power hitter, Lexus Mack, early in game four and the Lady Cats reverted to the style of play that had failed them in the first two games.
The Knight femmes pulled steadily away with strong service efforts from Murphree and Mlinar to claim the regional championship.
Mlinar was named the tournament's most valuable player and Martin was voted onto the all-tournament squad as were Lady Cats Chelsea Brown, the libero, and Knox. Evant’s Heidi Callan and Cross Roads striker Anna Cross were the other players named to the all-tournament squad.
The Lady Knights (35-10) will enter the state tournament as the top-ranked Class A team, a position they have held since September.
The state tournament is to be held at Texas State University in San Marcos next weekend. Lindsay will face Bronte (39-5) in the Class A semifinals Friday at 11 a.m. The other semifinal will match Louise (39-4) against Normangee (31-10). The championship match is slated for 9 a.m. Saturday.
