DALLAS, TX -- Despite not playing their best match, Bishop Lynch managed to sweep The Village School 25-15, 25-21, 25-18 on Monday afternoon in the Competition Gym. The Friars hosted the Area Playoff round as they finished fourth in district one while The Village School finished fifth in district two.

Though the Friars earned the third sweep, they didn't play their best throughout the match on Monday afternoon. The team had 29 hitting, serving, and serve-receiving errors throughout the match. 

Where the Friars did find success on Monday was in their serves and hitting, despite all the errors. The team hit .256 overall with 35 kills, good enough for 11 more than the Vikings. The Hatfield twins led the team with eight kills each on a combined .313 hitting percentage. BL also had 12 aces, largely in part due Maddie Gappelberg's career-high five aces on 23 attempts.

With the sweep over The Village School, Bishop Lynch has now had three straight sweeps going back to the regular season. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Friars started the match with something to prove in the first set and quickly jumped over the Vikings 8-3 before their first timeout. The timeout did nothing to help the Vikings as the Friars extended their lead to 21-7 behind three Riley Seitz kills and three Gappelberg aces. The Friars ended up taking the first set 25-15.

The second set brought more of a challenge for BL as they trailed early on. Madison Pflum gave the Friars the 7-6 lead with one of her two aces and the Friars never gave it back. The Vikings had their best hitting set of the match, as the visitors hit .300 to the Friars' .240. Claire Hatfield's five kills helped BL finish off the second set 25-21.

Cate Hatfield saved her best for the third set as the senior had a team-high five kills along with two assists and three digs. Hatfield combined with Pflum's three kills proved to be too much for the Vikings en route to the 25-18 set victory.

Bishop Lynch Game Leaders:
Kills: Cate Hatfield & Claire Hatfield | 8
Assists: Maddie Gappelberg | 14
Digs: Maddie Smotherman | 8
Blocks: Madison Pflum, Riley Seitz, Cate Hatfield, & Claire Hatfield | 1
Aces: Maddie Gappelberg | 5

TAPPS PLAYOFF RESULTS:
Area Round - October 30
John Paul II defeated St. Pius X, 3-0

Area Round - October 31
Trinity Christian Academy plays Concordia Lutheran at 5:00 in Tomball
Nolan Catholic plays Incarnate Word at 12:00 in San Antonio
Parish Episcopal plays St. Agnes at 1:00 in Houston

NEXT UP:
The Friars will travel to the Alamo City on Saturday to face off against the 6A District 2 champions in Antonian College Preparatory. This is a rematch of last year's semi-final match where BL upset the Apaches 3-0 to advance to the state championship. The game will be on Saturday, November 4th with first serve at 11:00 a.m.
 

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