ALTAIR — The Sealy High School volleyball team faced off with La Grange High School in a playoff match Nov. 4 at Rice High School in Altair and won in five sets by a final score of 18-25, 23-25, 2624, 25-19, 15-11. After being down two sets to zero, the Lady Tigers made an enormous comeback and rallied offensively for the final three sets to pull off a miraculous win.
"La Grange is a great team," said Sealy head volleyball coach Caro - line Owen. “They came prepared.
We just made little adjustments on the block, kind of where our defense was lined up. That was a hell of a match. We haven't gone five all season, so to have a five game set right there, to come back and win it, that was a lot of fun." Sealy freshman outside hitter Lauren Luther spiked down the game-winning kill to propel her team to victory in the fifth and final set. "Just stay positive and be happy," Luther said on her mindset throughout the comeback win. La Grange played a stellar first two sets and has a lot of positives to take from this contest. "We just had some crucial points where we couldn't seem to put the ball down," said La Grange head volleyball coach Leslie Coltrain. "They upped their defensive play a little bit, I think. We just didn't capitalize on their errors enough." La Grange took a 5-1 lead in the first set on a block, then kept their comfortable lead at 16-10 after backto-back kills from junior outside hitter Carley Ulrich and a bunch of kills before hand, along with a few mistakes from Sealy. The Lady Leopards continued on that pace for the remainder of the set with an ace mixed in and a set-winning kill from Ulrich at 25-18.
Both teams went back and forth in the second set and Sealy eventually captured a 20-16 lead after a ball out of bounds from La Grange and tons of trading points. A ball out of bounds and an illegal hit from the Lady Tigers tied it at 21, then two kills from La Grange freshman middle hitter Brion Williams and a serve in the net from Sealy for the final point won the Lady Leopards the set 25-23.
The third set consisted of each team trading punches for the entire set. A ball out of bounds from La Grange, then one from Sealy tied it at 24 before a kill from Sealy and an illegal hit from the Lady Leopards won them the set 26-24.
A close set early in the fourth led to Sealy jumping out to a 16-11 lead on a kill from junior outside hitter Avery Grigar. A tip ball and an ace from Sealy made it 18-12, which was followed by four points in a row from the Lady Tigers on another kill and three mistakes in a row from La Grange to put it at 22-13. Sealy kept this same kind of lead for the remainder of the set and won it on a ball out of bounds from La Grange at 25-19.
The fifth set was controlled by Sealy to start with a 5-1 lead after an ace from junior defensive specialist Kara Kram.
La Grange battled back and made it 8-6 after a ball out of bounds from the Lady Tigers, then even cut it to one at 11-10 on a mishit from Sealy. Two balls out of bounds in a row from the Lady Leopards gave Sealy a 14-10 lead and Luther's match-winning kill closed it out at 15-11.
