Warriors survive in five sets

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - Seniors Rachel Earle and Margaret Echols led The Woodlands Christian Academy on a 9-0 run in the fifth set to give the Warriors a 25-19, 25-23, 17-25, 21-25, 15-11 win against Rosehill Christian Tuesday night.

“Our girls have fought all year long and I’m proud of the seniors, they don’t quit, they don’t know how to quit,” said Warrior Head Coach Ryan Highley.

Rosehill started off the fifth set with a 4-0 run with two kills, a Warrior error and net violation. On Senior night, Earle got the run started with a kill and combined with three consecutive Echols blocks tying the score at 4-4. The Warriors took the lead on another Earle kill off a block at the net, combined with three consecutive Rosehill attack errors giving the Warriors a 9-4 lead. The lead was the first for the Warriors since the end of the second set.

The Eagles wouldn’t go away as they put together four consecutive kills between another Earle kill. Sydney Vanderpool gave the Warriors another boost of momentum as she had three of her team-high 10 kills down the stretch. Rosehill responded once last time with a 4-0 run to close the Warrior lead to 13-11 in the fifth set. Vanderpool and Summer Wheeler had back-to-back kills, giving the Warriors a 15-11 fifth set victory.

“We came together as a team more at the end and realized how much this meant to us and how much we wanted it,” said Earle, who finished the match with seven kills.

Woodlands Christian (11-13-1, 7-5) started out the match winning the first two sets before a horde of unforced errors saw the Eagles (11-16, 2-10) rally to win the third and fourth sets, respectively.

The Warriors will begin postseason play against St. Thomas at Katy Faith West on Thursday, October 24, for seeding in the upcoming TAPPS State Volleyball Tournament.