The Lady Pirates faced tough competition last week, falling in four games to Sachse on Sept. 2 and then losing in three Friday to Highland Park.

The losses follow an outstanding performance at the San Marcos tournament.

After going 2-1 on day one, the Lady Pirates cleaned up 3-0 in Aug. 30 matches to win the silver bracket.
They were scheduled to play at McKinney on Tuesday.

Details were not available at press time. They have a Friday game at Coppell and will be at home for Hebron on Sept. 16.

Head coach Deanna Toler said, “We are working on getting that competitiveness in long stretches, not just in spurts. With repetition, we should build confidence. I have told the girls we are getting prepared for district. We’re playing tough teams now, and that will help.”

Toler said it’s a young team that will continue to mature and they are still looking for a vocal leader to step up.

She said, “We have one player (Erica Amos) who was in junior high last year and two others (Marindia Turner, Samantha Plumlee) who came up from freshman A team last year.”

Wylie shocked Cedar Park in the championship round (25-10, 25-18) at San Marcos. Rachel Maslowski, Turner and Keeley Tramell led the attack.

Jessi Poole and Plumlee were defensive standouts, and Ashleigh Reinschmiedt provided solid blocking at the net.

The Lady Pirates rolled past Houston Second Baptist (25-21, 25-16) in the best-of-three series. Sophomore Hailey McCrary was a standout on the serve and on defense.

Earlier in the day, they showed poise and confidence in coming from behind to beat Weatherford (25-23, 25-19). Katelyn Armstrong showed a strong service, and Amos turned in an exceptional performance.

Junior Mackenzi Estes was named to the All-Tournament team. Estes has physical attributes that enable her to cover a lot of territory.

“We depend on her to get to balls no one else can get to,” Toler said. “She is more of a quiet leader and leads by example.”

Against Sachse, the Lady Pirates dropped game one 11-25. After getting more in sync, they made it a good contest in game two, falling 19-25, and came on to win game three 25-16.

The Lady Mustangs regrouped to take a 25-19 win in game four.

Turner and Maslowski tallied nine and eight kills, respectively. Estes led the way with 28 assists, and Jessi Poole led the defense with 12 digs.

Highland Park was sporting a 29-3 season record heading into the Wylie match. Game one ended in a rout 8-25. The Lady Pirates could have folded early, but they kept working for every point.

They improved each game but lost the next two 12-25, 21-25. Poole recorded 18 digs. Maslowski and Tramell had three blocks each, and McCrary was again strong on the serve.

JV report

The JV squad fell to Sachse in two games 23-25, 14-25.

Tierrika Noble recorded four blocks and two kills. Brianna Knoblock played great defense on the back row and served five straight points in game one.

In another tough contest, the JV fell to Highland Park 18-25, 17-25.

Setter Kylie Garza played extremely well. Knoblock and libero Lauren Tarver provided solid back-row defense.

Freshman report

The Lady Raiders faced the same dominating squads. The maroon squad came away with a win (25-4, 25-20) over Sachse.

Jordan Villarreal served nine points in a row, and Cassie Springfield served eight in a row. Jasmine Finch did an outstanding job of passing the ball in game two.

The Maroon competed well against Highland Park but fell 25-15, 25-23. They fought hard and had great net play, with key blocks coming from Christina Nesmith and Makaila Jordan.

The White team fell to the Lady Scots in two games, both by 25-11. Despite the losses, the Lady Raiders showed fight.

Karsen Knight played hard on the front row and recorded four kills. Taylor Sullivan turned in a stellar defensive effort on the back row.