Parker collects 100th win; Lady Cats and Trojanettes win district opener

Nocona poked the bear.

A week’s worth of drama over the selection of line judges came to a head in Tuesday night’s match. And it wasn’t pretty for the Lady Indians.

Holliday (26-5, 4-0) steamrolled Nocona, 25-7, 25-13, 25-6, as Lady Eagles’ head coach Wendy Parker collected the 100th win in her career.

“I’m thrilled beyond measure,” Parker said. “The girls make it so easy. They rack up the wins just boom-boom-boom-boom. They make my job super easy and fun. They impressed me with the fashion they came out and won this one. They wanted to make sure they did it right and they did. (…) I’m just blessed to be here.”

The Lady Eagles came out hot from the get-go, winning 15 of the game’s first 17 points before coasting to the finish in the opening set. Holliday built a 17-3 advantage in the second set but lost some of its intensity late in the frame before finishing strong. In the match’s final set, the Lady Eagles kept their foot on the gas pedal and dominated from start to finish.

“I think we’re doing really well,” Parker added. “We’ve got to make sure to push through some of the softer parts like what we did today. We have to maintain our intensity no matter what’s going on on the other side of the net. Scrimmaging ourselves has been really helpful. We’re trying to keep a high pace going on both sides because we know it’s going to get back to that. We want to make sure we keep that going.”

Juniors Addison Lindemann and Katy Piper led the Lady Eagles on offense with nine kills apiece. Senior Payton Murray posted six kills and a trio of blocks while junior Campbell Jurecek contributed six kills and an ace. Senior Skylar Rivers logged five kills, 14 digs and a pair of aces. Seniors Sarah Cowan and Caroline Case anchored the back-row with nine and eight digs, respectively. Junior Morgan Bodde handed out 20 assists while adding eight digs and an ace.

The Lady Eagles’ winning streak stretched to seven following the win over Nocona. In those seven matches, Holliday has not dropped a set. The average set score in the first four district matches is 25-10 and the closest any opponent has come to taking a set is Henrietta in the third set on Sept. 10, scoring 16 points.

Holliday hosts Breckenridge on Friday, Sept. 24.

In other Archer County action, Archer City (17-11, 1-0) and Windthorst (18-10, 1-0) each picked up wins to open up district play.

The Lady Cats knocked off Bryson, 25-17, 25-17, 25-14. Senior Mallory Maxwell had a night to remember with seven blocks while senior Chandler Clark contributed nine kills. Senior Maddie Lopez registered a double-double with 14 assists and 11 digs. Senior Aspyn Huseman added 12 digs while junior Jill Liles handed out a team-high 15 assists.

The Lady Cats host Prairie Valley in their home opener on Friday, Sept. 24.

The Trojanettes swept Goldburg, 25-10, 25-18, 25-10. Sophomore Annikah Frank flirted with a double-double, tallying 11 kills and seven digs. Senior Tara Tackett added six kills and 11 digs while junior Keaira Fillingim matched the senior’s kill output with six winners. Defensively, senior Camryn Latham logged 12 digs. Freshman setter Megg Lindley handed out 24 assists and scored six aces from the service line.

Windthorst hosts Bryson on Saturday, Sept. 25.