VOLLEYBALL: TWHS Lady Highlanders battle back to beat Katy, 3-2

THE WOODLANDS, Texas —The Lady Highlanders pushed their way into a hard-fought victory over the Katy Tigers 3-2 Tuesday night.

After losing their first two sets 25-23 and 25-17, the girls came back as a force to be reckoned with in the third set of the match, winning 25-20, creating a turning point in their game.

“It was an amazing fight to be down 2-0 and come back and push so hard. We just didn’t feel like ourselves the first two games,” Head Coach Terri Wade said. “We made some adjustments that we haven’t even been doing lately, but they were all willing to do whatever the team needed.”

Both teams made it clear in each set that neither would go down without a fight, and after making a few offensive changes and subs, Wade said the girls were able to get mentally focused and started doing their jobs better. They took the match by the horns 25-8 and 15-13 in the last two sets.

“They brought a lot of intensity,” Wade said. “Their crowd was really into it, they got pumped, and they were definitely trying to take away the momentum, so I saw a lot of fight in our team to kind of fight against that mentally.”

Leading the team’s match were Hannah Hickman and Bella Pinton with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Both athletes made highly physical contributions to the game.

“They’re very strong hitters, and they go in very hard every time,” Wade said. “They keep the defense back on their toes, and I feel like they get the swings and get the kills because everybody is back and just kind of scared of waiting on the ball to come to them.”

Wade said the match was a great transition into the beginning of their district matches with the team coming together and fighting Katy through the early two-game deficit. The Lady Highlanders will start their district games Friday, September 11, at home against the Conroe Tigers.