Tigerettes roll in district opener
CASEY GEORG Special to the Press
BARTLETT — It took less than an hour for the Thrall Tigerettes (20-7 overall, 1-0 District 26-2A) to sweep the Bartlett Lassies, in both teams’ district opener Saturday. The Tigerettes rolled to a 25-10, 25-7, 25-4 sweep of the Lassies.
“We never take anyone for granted, especially in district play,” said Thrall Coach Bethany Grissom. “We expect everyone in the district to come ready to play.
I was pleased with the way the girls played.”
Thrall struggled somewhat in the early going of the first set.
The Tigerettes suffered through a few early errors, but when they finally got on track, Bartlett had no defense.
The Tigerettes led just 9-5 when Melaina Grissom got the serve.
She served up a trio of aces, the Lassies hit four consecutive shots into the net that allowed the Tigerettes to expand their lead to 19-5 before relinquishing the serve.
Bartlett got no closer than 19-7 before the Tigerettes earned a sideout on a Brynn Leschber kill. The final point of the set came on Amber Kevil’s cross-court kill.
In the second set, Thrall clearly had the momentum, as they raced out to a 14-2 lead.
Melaina Grissom and Leschber each tallied three early kills and Karly Pesantes added five aces in the run. The Lassies were never able to gain any momentum against the hard-hitting Tigerettes, and another big run late, sealed the second set for the visitors, with Kevil picking up two more kills for the Tigerettes.
It was more of the same in the final set.
Thrall raced out to a 13-4 lead. Brenna Tucek served up a pair of aces, and the Tigerettes’ defense kept the Lassies from mountin any sort of rally. Down the stretch, Tucek and Nevaeh Irvin each scored kills, and Melaina Grissom added four aces including the final point of the match.
“There are always areas we can work on to get better,” Coach Grissom said. “But, overall, I thought we played a pretty solid match.”
Following the Tigerettes’ home match against the Granger Lady Lions (12-13, 0-0) on Tuesday, Thrall will travel to Holland on Oct. 3 to take on the Lady Hornets
