VOLLEYBALL: The Woodlands defeats Oak Ridge 3-1 to take the district lead

OAK RIDGE, Texas -- The Lady Highlanders pulled through a tough match against Oak Ridge with a 3-1 victory, improved their district record to 8-1 and claimed the district lead.

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Oak Ridge came into the first set with great momentum and swiftly won 25-18. The Woodlands Head Coach Terri Wade said her team knew the match would be a tough one playing on the Lady War Eagle’s court.

“It’s great just because I know how tough our district is and how much we have to fight through every single game not knowing the outcome, especially going forward with Oak Ridge,” Wade said. “Game one, they definitely got us down, and it’s been hard for us this season when we’ve started late, but we stayed in it mentally, and we knew what we had to do.”

The Lady Highlanders fought three neck-and-neck sets and pulled their victory over Oak Ridge 25-23, 25-22, 25-17. Oak Ridge never backed down and proved their ability to close wide score gaps.

“It’s just such a game of momentum with just the mental part of it, and we knew every time [Coach Sledge] called a timeout, we came over and I said, ‘Do not let up,’” Wade said. “We cannot for a second overlook our lead and think that we’re comfortable, because one play gets them back in, and they get the momentum.”

Wade said her team owes much of their success to their confidence in each other and the communication on and off the court.

“Sometimes they took an extra moment when we’re waiting on the ball to get back to our server to just stay in our little huddle and talk a little longer,” Wade said. “We want to work on being specific of what we need to do on the court and not just say, ‘Shake it off, we’ve got the next one,’ but actually know what we have to do to get the next one.”

The Woodlands will play their next match at Summer Creek Friday, October 23 at 5:30 p.m.