DALLAS — The Lady Friars fought hard and lost twice to district champion Parish Episcopal during the regular season. In Tuesday's TAPPS 6A area playoff matchup, Bishop Lynch took the fight to the Panthers and knocked the host team off its perch, eliminating Parish with a thrilling 3-2 victory.

The Lady Friars (20-14) advance to Saturday's regional playoffs where they'll face yet another familiar foe – Ursuline Academy (26-14). The Bears went to Midland on Tuesday and also won in five sets. Bishop Lynch and Ursuline split their two regular season meetings, with each team winning on the road. Saturday's rubber match is scheduled to begin at 8:00 pm on the campus of Dallas Baptist University. It will be part of a regional doubleheader that will start with defending state champion Prestonwood Christian taking on Liberty Christian at 6:00 pm. The winners advance to next week's state tournament in Waco.

The Lady Friars opened Tuesday's match with a statement, scoring 10 of the last 15 points of the opening set to win it 25-20. They rode that momentum to a 20-13 lead in the second set, but Parish rallied to score 12 of the final 15 points and even the match with a 25-23 score in the second. Unforced errors plagued the Lady Friars in the third after the teams played to a 5-5 tie, helping Parish run off a 20-13 margin to close out a 25-18 win in the third and take a 2-1 match lead. Bishop Lynch built a 16-8 lead in the fourth and – despite an 11-3 Parish run to tie the set at 19-19 – closed it out and forced a fifth set with a 25-23 win.

A tense deciding set saw Parish race out to a 5-2 advantage, only to have the score tied at 7-7. Parish took leads of 11-9 and 13-11, but couldn't stop the resilient Lady Friars, who closed out the match on a 6-2 run to advance with a 17-15 fifth set victory. 

Freshman Avery Kinzer had a team-high 12 kills and fellow freshman Lyric Berry has seven of the Lady Friars' 18 blocks – eight of which came in the fifth set. Charlotte Hain (22 digs), Alex Galicia (25 assists), Sydney Broussard (15 digs, four aces), Emma Cuneo (eight kills, 5.5 blocks), and Leah Oyewole (11 kills) helped push the Lady Friars into the next round.

Saturday's regional match can be heard free on our internet radio channel: http://mixlr.com/blathletics/.
 
Area Playoffs – Tuesday
Bishop Lynch 3, Parish Episcopal 2
Ursuline 3, Midland Christian 2
Prestonwood 3, TCA-Addison 0
Liberty Christian 3, John Paul II 1
 
Regional Playoffs – Saturday
(at Dallas Baptist University)
Prestonwood vs. Liberty Christian, 6:00 pm
Bishop Lynch vs. Ursuline, 8:00 pm