PLANO - Bishop Lynch (21-7, 0-1) fell 3-2 to the top-ranked Prestonwood Christian (24-1,1-0) volleyball team on Tuesday evening. The battle lived up to the hype with the Lions holding on to a 25-16, 25-17, 19-25, 26-28, 15-7 victory.
The Friars' last two games against the Lions have been decided in the fifth set, both times going PCA's way. Unlike last year's playoff matchup though, the Friars went down 2-0 before fighting back to force a fifth set.
The first set could not have gone any worse for BL than if it was scripted by our worst enemy. Besides starting the set going down 5-0 and needing a quick timeout, the Friars committed 15 turnovers, the most they have in any set of this season. Much like the theme of the entire match, the Friars didn't quit in the first set after the poor start. They briefly took the lead midway through the set before PCA pulled away to the nine point first-set win.
In the second set, the Friars cleaned up their errors, but the Lions took an early 10-5 lead. The Friars would hang around and after
Leah Oyewole's kill to cut it to 19-16, PCA scored six of the next seven points to take the set and a 2-0 advantage. PCA sophomore Macaria Spears, who has been a force all year, will continue to do that during TAPPS play. She finished with a game-high 19 kills on Tuesday night.
The first two sets would not have been as close as they were if it were not for
Lyric Berry. She had six of her seven kills in the first two sets and also had two blocks and two aces. Berry finished with an outstanding nine blocks as she was a huge defensive presence in the middle.
The third set is when the Friars started putting everything together and their offense became very balance. BL jumped out to an early 8-4 lead and never faltered. The closest PCA got to the Friars was 16-14 but with a balanced attack, BL took the third set 25-19 and lived to fight another set. Five Friars had kills in the third set and freshman
Madison Pflum led the way with three.
Senior captain
Ashlyn Zilliken provided a big piece to the comeback Tuesday night. This was her first game of the season as she has been dealing with an injury and it couldn't have come at a better time.
"Playing for the first time after being out for so long, I was very nervous about playing my best and staying mentally strong against who would be our hardest game all season, but once I played all the nerves went away. The team is so supportive and I fell into place right away, just trying to put 100% into every play. I'm so happy to be back and excited for my last season with this team!" Zilliken said after the game.Â
In the fourth set, the Friars looked like they had lost the momentum and went down 9-5 early but once again fought back to tie it up at 12 apiece.
Lauryn Lambert played her best when the Friars needed it the most in the fourth. Lambert had five big kills in the fourth set and was finding her groove. BL needed every single one of them as they were able to squeak by 28-26. On two occasions, the Friars were facing match point, and both times
Leah Oyewole tied it up with clutch kills on the outside.
In the fifth set, the Friars ran out of gas and fell behind by too much for them to come back. PCA took the fifth set 15-7 and the match 3-2, but the Friars were able to walk out of the Field House with confidence that they can compete against the best TAPPS has to offer.
NEXT UP:
Bishop Lynch will host their first district game next Tuesday against Nolan Catholic. This game will be played in the Legacy Gym as it is our Throwback Night. It will also be a $1 hot dog night.
Around the District
Ursuline defeated Nolan Catholic, 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 30-28)
Parish defeated John Paul II, 3-2 (9-25, 25-27, 25-22, 27-25, 17-15)
Sub-Varsity
Junior Varsity 1 defeated PCA 2-0
Junior Varsity 2 defeated McKinney North 2-1
Freshman defeated PCA 2-0
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