THRALL – Tuesday night’s matchup between the Thrall Tigerettes (13-2) and Troy Trojanettes (10-6) was a battle of Top 20 teams.
The Tigerettes entered the match ranked fifth in Class 2A in the latest Texas Girls Coaches Association poll, while Troy was ranked nineteenth in Class 3A.
The match certainly lived up to its billing, with the Tigerettes earning a 25-13, 25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 15-12 win over the Trojanettes.
“This was a great match,” said Thrall Coach Bethany Grissom. “Troy has a very good team, and we had to play really well to beat them.”
Thrall looked dominant early. Brynn Leschber, who finished the night with 17 kills, knocked down a pair of those kills, and Emily Holybee served up a pair of aces to stake the Tigerettes to a 5-1 lead in the opening set. Troy cut the lead to 9-7, but a 6-0 Thrall run, midway through the set, gave the Tigerettes a 19-9 advantage. Leschber took control of the set in the late going, knocking down three kills and adding a block to clinch the first set.
The Tigerettes continued their dominance until the midway point of the second set. Thrall led 17-11 and was poised to run away with the set, but the Trojanettes had other plans. Solid net play by Kenzie Deleon and Kaycee Kavanaugh allowed Troy to get back in the set, and the visitors pulled within two, at 24-22, late. But a Trojanette miscue gave Thrall the second set and a 2-0 advantage in sets.
The third and fourth sets were nothing less than a classic battle between two equally matched teams.
Troy charged out to a 7-1 lead, only to see the Tigerettes rally and take a 20-17 advantage. The teams traded points down the stretch, but when Thrall’s block attempt sailed out of bounds, the Trojanettes had taken the third set.
The fourth set went much the same way. Thrall led 20-17 late, but a kill by Kavanaugh evened the set count at two apiece.
Troy had the momentum entering the final set, and it showed. The Trojanettes built a 7-3 lead as Deleon and Kavanaugh, along with Madilynn Strait, controlled the net. But, Thrall wasn’t finished. The Tigerettes began to claw their way back into the set, and when Nevaeh Irvin scored on a running kill, the score was tied at nine.
Amber Kevil’s kill then gave the Tigerettes a 10-9 advantage. An ace by Melaina Grissom, who also led Thrall with 18 kills, along with a Troy error, pushed the Thrall lead to 12-9. Troy continued to battle, but when the Trojanettes were whistled for a double hit, the win belonged to the Tigerettes.
“I thought there were times we kind of let down some, and that allowed them to get the momentum,” said Coach Grissom.
“But, I’m proud of how the girls bounced back, particularly in that fifth set.”
Thrall was back in action Thursday at the Academy tournament. In pool play, Thrall will face Gatesville and Thorndale. Bracket play will be on Saturday.
