Salado Lady Eagles’ historic volleyball season came to an end tonight at the Curtis Culwell Center, where the girls lost to the defending 4A State Champions Canyon Randall in four sets.
Salado won the first set 25-23, tying the score at 6-6 before stretching it to 14-9. The Lady Raiders scraped their way to a 23-23 tie, but the Lady Eagles won the game on a kill by Payton Ortega on an assist by Livia Niu followed by an ace by Sara Ellis.
In the second set, Salado led by as much as six, 13-7 before the Lady Raiders chipped away at the lead, tying the set at 17-17. The score was tied at 18-18, 19-19,20-20, 21-21, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24 before Randall was able to score two straight points for the 26-24 win.
Breaking Salado’s lead midway through the second gave Randall the momentum to dominate the third set. Salado tied the score at 4-4, but was never again in the game as Randall built a 11-5 lead on star Jordyn Gove’s service. Randall extended the lead to 20-10 and held on for the 25-18 third set win to take a 2-1 advantage over Salado.
In a closely contested fourth set, Randall built a three-point lead early 12-9 but the Lady Eagles fought back to tie the score at 13-13, 14-14, 15-15, 16-16, 17-17, 18-18, 19-19, 20-20 and 21-21. Brooke Henderson gave the Lady Raiders a two-point lead with her kill, but Salado cut it to one on a kill by Kael Wilcox and assist by Niu to make the score 22-23. It would be the last point for Salado’s season as Randall scored the final two points to win the set and the match.
Wilcox led Salado with 13 kills, followed by Haley Brown, 11, Ortega, 9, Macy Morris, 6, Elsie Law, 4 and Niu, 3.
Brown and Morris led the girls with 2 service aces each, followed by Ellis and Reese Rich, 1 each.
Law led the girls with 7 blocks, followed by Niu, 5, Morris and Ortega, 2 each and Wilcox, 1.
Niu had 43 assists, while Ellis and Shelby Hollywood both had 1.
Rich led the girls with 24 digs, followed by Ellis, 13, Hollywood, 12, Brown, 11, Niu, 8, Grace Clemons, 7, Wilcox, 5, Morris, 4, Ortega, 3 and Law, 1.