Lady Bears fought off Lady Broncos

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Lady Bears fought off Lady Broncos

Van Wade

The Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS — When the going got tough, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears reached deep down inside and also turned to senior hitter Morgan Blohm against a hard-nosed Dayton Lady Broncos at the Bear Cave Tuesday night.

Blohm blistered Dayton with perhaps her best performance ever in a Lady Bear uniform as she notched a whopping 23 kills to power the Lady Bears to an important 25-21, 20-25, 25-15, 25-13 District 22-4A victory.

It was a much-needed victory for LC-M (17-14, 7-4), which entered the contest tied with both Beaumont Ozen and Lumberton for second-place in the 22-4A standings.

It was a refreshing win for the Lady Bears, who dropped back-to-back matches against first-place Port Neches-Groves and Ozen last week.

The Lady Broncos (14-15, 4-7) played awesome defense throughout the match, digging up a ton of hard Lady Bear shots but LC-M found its groove in both Game Three and Game Four.

“We really needed this one and we dug deep down and went out and got it,†Blohm said. “We struggled last week, so we got together and decided that we were not going through another week like that.â€

As far as Blohm’s performance?

“I felt like I was in a good groove and my teammates set me up with some beautiful placements and I was able to put a bunch away. Dayton kept digging everything up, but we remained patient and pulled through.â€

Sophomore Christine Sicktich had another strong performance for the Lady Bears, notching 13 kills to go along with 11 points and an ace. Maci Wilcox had one of her best performances of the season, finding her way to nine kills. Kaci Olson was strong off the bench, claiming five kills while Jordyn Davis and Kristi Trahan added four kills apiece.

Brittany Wiegand collected nine service points. Alexa Humble served up six points and two aces while Shayna Sheppard and Carly Gauthier added six points apiece.

Long-time LC-M coach Vicki Castino was proud of the effort the lady Bears displayed.

“Last week was a tough week but the kids regained a lot of focus and were determined to come out tonight and play well and they accomplished that,†Castino said. “Dayton has a tough little team and their defense was awesome all night. We really got things going though in that third game and the kids were able to pull away.â€

Castino was thrilled with the way the Lady Bears hung in there.

“Morgan put on a big display tonight,†Castino said. “She’s awesome when we give her that short set. Wilcox had one of her better matches of the season and Olson gave us a big spark off the bench.â€

Paige Wilson had a superb outing for the Lady Broncos, posting 11 kills. Deanna Tousant, who was not available when LC-M defeated Dayton at Dayton in the first half off 22-4A play, finished with nine kills. Iris Moss collected seven kills for Dayton while Casey Strickland added five. Jenny Wilson and Courtney Morse tallied seven service points apiece for the Lady Broncos.

LC-M closed out Game One by tallying five of the last seven points and Blohm iced it with a booming kill on the back baseline.

The Lady Broncos returned the favor in Game Two, racking up five of the final seven points as Wilson and Moss teamed up for four kills down the backstretch.

In Game Three, LC-M went on a mini run, scoring four straight points as Sicktich and Wilcox teamed up for four kills to put the Lady Bears up 16-11. Dayton got as close as 17-13 but LC-M rattled the Lady Broncos with an 8-2 spurt with Blohm once again finishing off that game with a nice dink shot.

Dayton jumped out to a 5-2 lead in Game Four only to watch Sicktich serve up nine straight points while Blohm, Wilcox and Olson were joining for six kills in a run that put the Lady Bears in control at 11-5.

LC-M put the match in cruise control, tallying 14 of the finals 22 points to put away the victory.

The Lady Bears are looking to finish the regular season in style, with destiny certainly in their own hands.

LC-M hosts Nederland Friday with the varsity starting at 4:30 p.m. The Lady Bears actually close out the regular season at the Bear Cave three straight matches. They also will host Lumberton next Tuesday and will close by hosting Vidor Oct. 19. Each match will have serious playoff implications.

“The kids really like the way things are set up for us and they also realize that they need to take care of business at home,†Castino said. “One thing for sure, anything can happen in this district, so they will have to be on their toes.â€