Kingwood upsets Oak Ridge in four games

THE WOODLANDS, Texas- The Kingwood Lady Mustangs showed the heart of a lion during Tuesday night’s thrilling 26-24, 15-25, 26-24, 31-29 District 16-6A volleyball victory over the home standing Oak Ridge Lady War Eagles.

The win moved the Lady Mustangs to 21-9 overall and 4-3 in District 16-6A play.

Oak Ridge dropped to 25-5 overall and 5-2 in the league.

Kingwood, which was coming off a tough three-game loss to The Woodlands, came out like gangbusters in Game One as Baylee Barsalou and Sophie Zielinksi battled Oak Ridge’s Victoria Harris and Brooke Clark at the net the entire first game.

The game see-sawed back and forth after it was tied at 17-all, but Kingwood would have the final answer as Zielinksi came up with the game-winning kill to give the visitors a one-game lead.

Oak Ridge, like it did in a win over non-district win over Klein, bounced back with an easy win in Game Two as it jumped out to a 16-4 lead and coasted to victory behind the net play of Clark and setting of fabulous freshman Carly Graham and Jacklyn Ward.

Oak Ridge carried the momentum over to Game Three as it quickly grabbed an 8-0 lead. But Kingwood wouldn’t quit, cutting the lead to 17-14 on Barsalou’s blast.

Oak Ridge went back up 20-16 before the Lady Mustangs scored five straight points to take a 21-20 lead when the Lady War Eagles were called in the net on a crucial point.

From there, the game was tied at 21, 22, and 24 before Oak Ride was whistled in the net to give Kingwood a 25-24 advantage, and Kingwood’s Madison Brabham put away the game with a blast.

The fourth and final game might have been the best game of the season for both teams as the score was tied at 17, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 before the Lady Mustangs scored the final two points to claim the match in four.

Zielinksi scored the winning kill to give Kingwood a 30-29 lead and Brabham, who caught fire in the fourth game, put away the winner with a smash in the middle of the court.

Oak Ridge’s Harris scored her 1,200th career kill and Ward recorded her 1,400th assist during the match, which last almost two hours.

Kingwood next will host Summer Creek at 5:30 p.m. Friday, while Oak Ridge will travel to meet Conroe in a 16-6A match at the same time.