Lady Mustangs volleyball exits in 4th round
Genell McClendon
Macy Taylor, Zoria Heard, Scarlett Young, Favor Anyanwu and Kaelynn Simms celebrate after a point.
November 18, 2021
The Lady Mustangs’ season came to an end with a fourth round loss to Cyprus Bridgeland High School 3 sets to none (25-14) (25-12) (25-22) in Lufkin on November 12th.
The Mustangs ended the year with a record of 36-11 and 14-0 in district, winning 97 sets and losing just 34 all season long.
“It was a tough way to go out,” junior Macy Taylor said. “We had basically dominated everyone we played for the last two months, and we got down early and just couldn’t come back from that hole.”
The Lady Mustangs round three matchup was a thrilling 5 set victory over Rockwall Tuesday, Nov. 9 at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.
The game was a back and forth affair with the Mustangs taking the first (26-24), third (25-22), and fifth (15-12) sets.The Mustangs were trailing in most sets and had to roar back to win each time.
“This game was epic,” senior Macy Puckett said. “They destroyed us the first time we played them. We knew going in it was going to be a really tough game, but we had the crowd and momentum to get a great win.”
The first two playoff games for the Lady Mustangs were dominating wins against Tyler Legacy in the first round and Waco Midway in the second round taking both games 3 sets to none.
“We had a great mindset coming off the district title,” senior Zoria Heard said. “We hadn’t lost a game in so long. We all had great confidence coming into the first few rounds, and we stayed dominant and fought tough for that third win.”
The Lady Mustangs will lose plenty of talent this year with key seniors graduating. Seniors earning district awards are: District Defensive Player of theYear Zoria Heard, District Setter of the Year Emily Westbrook, All District First Team Macy Puckett, All District Second Team Camryn Parker, and Jayla Jones
Heard will continue her volleyball career in the fall at Texas A&M Corpus Christie.
The returning Mustangs took home their fair share of honors, District Most Valuable Player Macy Taylor, District Offensive Player of the Year Favor Anyanwo, All district first team Kaelyn Sims, All district Second Team Scarlette Young, and All District Honorable Mention Chi Tran.