It’s fitting that senior setter Livia Niu’s third ace of the night was the final point in a three-set sweep of the Huffman Hargrave Lady Falcons, sending the Lady Eagles into the 4A Region III Volleyball finals at noon Sat. Nov. 11. THe Lady Eagles will face Spring Hill, which beat Liberty Hill in the semi-final. Earlier in the week, the senior signed to play volleyball for University of South Florida.
The Lady Eagles swept Hargrave 25-13, 25-18 and 25-18.
Hargrave led early in the first set, 6-3, but the Lady Eagles tied the score at 7-7 and 8-8 before a 7-point run on a service by Niu that included three aces.
Sara Ellis had back-to-back aces to give the Lady Eagles a 19-9 lead.
Niu set Elsie Law up for back-to-back kills for the final two points of the first set.
Salado jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and Niu and Macy Morris combined together three times to give Salado a 7-3 lead. Morris and Haley Brown blocked a shot and Niu fed Payton Ortega for three straight kills and Law for another to give Salado a dominating 12-4 lead in the second.
The Lady Falcons ate away at the lead to trail 17-21 but Niu fed Ortega for back to back kills to extend the lead to 23-17. Ortega set the ball to Brown and Reese Rich fed Niu the ball for the final points, 25-18.
In the third set, the teams fought back and forth until they were tied at 10-10 on Shelby Hollywood’s service, which was good for three points before the sideout. The Lady Eagles would take of their service opportunities to pad their lead and led 22-17 before Hargrave scored their last point of the set, match and season. The Lady Eagles scored the last three points on an assist by Niu to Grace Clemons, a block by Kael Wilcox and Morris, and Niu’s final ace of the match.