GARLAND — Columbus volleyball took Gunter High School down to the wire in an event that went five sets, where Gunter came out on top by a final score of 14-25, 25-23, 27- 25, 22-25, 12-15 Nov. 16 at the Curtis Culwell Center. Columbus went up two sets to one and had control, then Gunter stormed back in the final two sets that ended up to be nail biters.
“Obviously, it’s not the outcome we expected or wanted,” said Columbus head volleyball coach Kayley Johns.
“Just extremely proud. This is the best showing we’ve had here going five sets. Obviously didn't finish how we wanted to, but I’m so proud of these girls. Just can’t say enough of how proud I am of them.
Lady Cardinals senior outside hitter Ally Tribe made a huge impact in this game as she’s done the entire year. She will be continuing her volleyball career as she’s recently signed with the University of Texas at San Antonio. “I would say I kind of went in with the grit attitude,” Tribe said. “We needed to dig deep and we needed to fight. We always say we play Columbus volleyball.
That’s what we needed to play and that’s what we needed to do to win.
Gunter’s a great team, but I knew we had it in us. It’s not the outcome we wanted and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Gunter took a big lead in the first set and went ahead 8-2 after a few kills and a few mistakes from Columbus. The Lady Cardinals came within reach after a kill from Tribe at 12-10 and forced Gunter to call timeout, then Gunter took their big lead back at 20-13 after a kill and a block, which was followed by another kill, tip ball, block, and ball out of bounds from Columbus to win the set 25-14.
The second set was much closer as both teams traded points for the whole set. Tribe contributed heavily with a handful of kills, but also had help from her teammates, such as clutch points from sophomore Gracie Schobel and senior middle blocker Ember Mandola. A kill from Tribe made it 24-23 before a mishit from Gunter won the Lady Cardinals the set 25-23.
Columbus took a nice lead midway through the third set at 13-7 after a tip ball from Mandola and a kill form Tribe. Gunter battled back and made it 16-13 on a kill from senior middle hitter Makena Fady, then a kill from Columbus junior outside hitter Taylor Morrow put her team ahead 20-16, which made Gunter call a timeout. The set eventually went to extra points and resulted in a 25-25 scoreboard after a kill from Tribe, then two more kills from Columbus and the game-winner being from Tribe edged out the set for Columbus 27-25.
A point from Gunter gave them a big lead of 9-4 in the fourth set until Columbus climbed back and made it 14-12 after yet another kill from Tribe. The score remained tight towards the end of the set at 22-21 as Tribe racked up another kill, then Gunter made three out of the last four points on kills with the last one being from outside hitter Chloe Johnson to win the set 25-22.
The Lady Cardinals called a tim- eout early in the fifth and final set after being down 5-0 on two kills, an ace, block, and another kill from Gunter. Columbus didn’t back down and reached within a point at 6-5 after an ace from senior setter Sage Thomas, which led to a few errors from the Lady Cardinals and an ace from Gunter for the Lady Tigers to go ahead 12-7.
A kill from Columbus’ Mandola and an ace from sophomore libero Ashlyn Carter made it 13-11 before two out of the last three points came from kills by Gunter and the last one being from junior middle hitter Madison Smith to win the set and match 15-12.
