The Lady Pirates took McKinney the distance on Sept. 9 but fell 3-2.

They played well against an exceptional Coppell squad on Friday but couldn’t muster a win.

Wylie was scheduled to meet Hebron at home Tuesday.

Details were not available at press time. After a home game against Lewisville on Sept. 23, the Lady Pirates will host the District 8-5A opener versus Plano West on Sept. 26.

Head coach Deanna Toler said, “We’re still in a teaching and learning situation right now. We haven’t gelled yet because of changes in lineup. Our consistency is in longer spurts, and our inconsistencies are coming in shorter spurts.”

The injury bug has shaken things up and caused a level of short-handedness for the squad.

“Right now the issue is if someone is struggling for a few plays, they can’t come out. We have to work through our struggles,” said Toler.

The Lady Pirates claimed game one at McKinney 25-18, but the Lionettes roared back to take the next two, 25-20 and 25-17.

Wylie rebounded with a convincing 25-10 win in game four, but a relentless McKinney squad came out hard in game five to take the 15-6 victory.

Sami Plumlee had a great game offensively and defensively. On the back row, Erica Amos and Jessi Poole did a great job of keeping the ball in play.

Coppell, one of the area’s powerhouse teams, took Friday’s match in three 25-20, 25-17 and 25-20.

Despite the loss, the Lady Pirates played extremely well and had opportunities to win.

Toler said, “We would stay with them and then they would get on a run and we would struggle a little. We would get back with them, and then maybe have a few errors.”

With only six girls’ teams in the new district alignment, District 8-5A teams have had an extra two weeks to get ready for district play.

Toler said this has been beneficial in providing additional experience for the younger players on the varsity squad.

“We are playing tough schools. We’re not playing any easy teams. Day in and day out we are competing against teams like we are going to compete against in district,” she said.

Junior varsity report

The JV girls fell to McKinney in two games 25-20, 25-10.

Tierrika Noble had several big blocks at middle, and Tambrisha Gilstrap had two great serving games.

Courtney Ross stepped in to play right side and recorded two kills.

They squad had no answer for Coppell falling 25-3 and 25-4.

Raiders Maroon

The Lady Raiders collected victories over McKinney (25-17, 25-14) and Plano Clark (25-21, 25-20).

Crowd noise and a restrictive playing area at McKinney did not rattle the Wylie squad as they came in determined to take the win. Sydnie Whitworth led the way with six kills, and Makaila Jordan and Christina Nesmith attacked along the front row. Lanie Brown and Jasmine Finch tore up the back row with great serve-receive passing and defensive digs.

The win over Clark gets the Lady Raiders off on the right foot with a victory in the first match of district play.
They started off in a great rhythm and held onto that throughout the contest.

Kayla Reinschmiedt had a rock solid 17 serves that included two aces and no errors. Brown and Cassie Springfield dominated on defense with 17 digs.

The front row racked up 24 attacks, with Carey Strong leading the pack with eight solid hits and zero errors. Jocelyn Finch owned the net with four stuff blocks on defense.

The freshman White team lost game one 25-23 at McKinney, pulled out a 26-24 win in game two, but fell 25-17 in game three to drop the match.

They rebounded with a victory over Clark in two games 25-15, 25-9. The squad served up a stellar 20 aces. Katelyn Nichols led with seven, and Abby Cole had five.