OF takes down WO-S, gets help from BC

[KFDM COOP]

OF takes down WO-S, gets help from BC

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

WEST ORANGE — At least for the time being the Orangefield Lady Bobcats can say thanks to the Bridge City Lady Cardinals.

Shortly after defeating West Orange-Stark in three games, the Lady Bobcats learned the Lady Cardinals had defeated the Hamshire-Fannett Lady Longhorns putting Orangefield alone in third place.

The Lady Bobcats downed the Lady Mustangs 25-18, 25-22 and 25-15.

Orangefield (15-14, 8-4) is now a full game up on H-F (21-10, 7-5) heading into Friday’s showdown against the Lady Cardinals (18-13, 11-1) who are tied with Silsbee (19-10) for first place in District 21-3A. Silsbee downed Kirbyville Tuesday.

So say your thanks Lady Bobcats now before heading into Cardinals Gym on Friday.

Orangefield got a match-high nine kills from Laura Riddick who also had 12 digs while Kaylin Little put in eight digs and 16 assists.

Allie Beach finished with five kills while Jessica Maass added four. Both Aimee Scales and Olivia Wagner finished the night with three kills.

Kia Hartfield led the Lady Mustangs (0-12) with six kills while Christine Gaskill had a team-high seven assists.

“That was a very long three games,†Orangefield Coach Linda Riddick said. “We still have to work on our mental errors. The good thing is those are correctable. In the past I know we have been able to take care of those kinds of things. We have to show up at practice Wednesday and refocus our attention.â€

The Lady Bobcats serving game seemed to be the difference all night long as Orangefield racked up 10 aces in the three games.

It was Maass in the first game who got the Lady Bobcats rolling after the Lady Mustangs took an early 4-0 lead.

Maass calmly struck for seven straight service points later in the game as Orangefield was able to build a 13-6 advantage.

The two squads then traded points for a while until Little came up to serve for Orangefield and all but put the game on ice.

Little hit for four straight points giving Orangefield a 21-11 lead.

WO-S could not recover and a final Lady Mustangs’ shot landed out of bounds giving the Lady Bobcats a 25-18 victory.

Orangefield got off to the same slow start in Game 2 as WO-S took an early 4-0 lead.

The Lady Mustangs were able to stretch it out to 9-3 as Cayla Adams struck for four straight service points.

Orangefield could never take a lead until Maass was once again serving and she came through with five straight points giving the Lady Bobcats a 23-21 advantage.

The run of points included two aces from Maass.

With Riddick serving, a final WO-S hitting error allowed Orangefield to escape with a 25-22 win.

Game 3 was backwards for the two teams as it was Orangefield who gained a big lead only to see WO-S fight back.

Scales hit for eight straight points giving Orangefield a comfortable 12-3 advantage only to see WO-S fight back and get within 16-14 later in the game.

Little then did her part again while serving with six straight points which included three aces as the Lady Bobcats grabbed a 22-14 lead.

A final Lady Mustangs hit fell out of bounds giving the Lady Bobcats the 25-15 victory.

“Now we don’t have a night where we can just coast,†Riddick said. “We have to care of our own business. It is going to take our best games and believing that we will be able to do it.â€

While Orangefield travels to face Bridge City Friday, WO-S will play host to Silsbee.