VOLLEYBALL SEASON ENDS FOR LADY BULLDOGS WITH REGIONAL SEMI-FINAL LOSS

The road to the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament passed through Catoosa last week, and the Wagoner Lady Bulldogs met up with a scrappy Inola Lady Longhorn team that derailed their advancement opportunities. They lost a heartbreaking 2-3 decision in the Regional semi-finals. Wagoner lost the first set 24-26 before winning back-to-back sets 26-22 and 25-16. Inola came back to win the fourth set 10-25 for a 2-2 tie and held off a Wagoner rally in the fifth set to win 5-10. Earlier in the week in their final regular season game, Wagoner lost to Inola 1-3 on the road. Unfortunately, redemption was not theirs at Regionals. “It was a great game and the girls fought very hard,” Coach Judy Penner said. “ We had a lot of rallies and were hitting the ball. It’s just in the end, Inola would win the point.” “Inola got on a roll and the momentum switched quickly to them. Our girls couldn’t get a break,” she continued. “It wasn’t that we played bad, it’s just that they (Inola) played better.” The Regional semi-final was a back and forth game. Wagoner jumped out on top early 3-0 by way of kills, but Inola fought back like Penner knew they would. Penner admitted there was a lot of energy in the gymnasium on both sides of the floor, and the venue was loud. “With the girls on the floor, we told them there were games they needed to be louder than the crowd when they talked back and forth with each other,” she said. “Inola had a bigger student body than we did, but ours was very good!” Penner expressed her pride in her team when they fought back from a 3-11 deficit in the 5th set to come within three points, 8-11. “They had some fight still in them,” she noted. “Usually a team lays down when you are down like that, but our girls fought back and tried to get back in it. I’m extremely proud of their effort.” Alyssa Armstrong recorded a season best 23 kills, 34 digs and one block in the semi-final game while Kaitlyn Bruce had eight kills, 32 digs and five blocks. Emily Hankins recorded nine kills and 31 digs while Kennedy Winn had 34 assists. Inola went on to play Catoosa in the Regional finals and the Lady Indians were victorious. “Our seniors bought into our program, and with Coach Ange’s help, we have stepped it up ... getting closer and closer to the next level every year,” Penner said. “I believe we could have beaten either one of those teams if we could have strung four or five games in a row.” In their matchup earlier in the week with Inola, the Lady Bulldogs lost 1-3, winning only the second set 25-20. “The girls didn’t quite play their bet that night. We didn’t seem like we came with our A game,” Penner said. Armstrong had nine kills and 21 digs and Hankins had nine kills. Bruce recorded five kills and three blocks. Meagan Hawkins recorded 21 digs, Katie Roberts had three kills and Kennedy Winn had 26 assists. One day earlier on the road the Lady Bulldogs defeated Westville 3-2 in extremely hot conditions with no air conditioning in the gymnasium. Penner called the game a “battle” with a very scrappy team. Roberts had her best game of the season that night with 12 blocks. The Wagoner Lady Bulldogs end their season with a 14-9 record. Alyssa Armstrong was named Most Valuable Player in the conference and Kaitlyn Bruce, Emily Hankins and Katie Roberts also garnered All-Conference honors. The All-Conference game will be played Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. at Hulbert.

VOLLEYBALL SEASON ENDS FOR LADY BULLDOGS WITH REGIONAL SEMI-FINAL LOSS

Photo Credit: Christy Wheeland

Contact Us