The Lingleville Lady Cardinals kept their third place state ranking at the beginning of this week, following a 7-1 week that advance their record to 19-5 for the season.
“The Lady Cardinals have had an awesome week of volleyball,” said head Lingleville volleyball coach Brandon Haught. “We had players out with injury, some were out with important life events, but we just managed to hang on and do our jobs and cover for our teammates that were missing. I’m proud of that. We had several sets this week that we would be in a hole, down 20-23 and somehow manage to push 5 straight points and win the set.”
This includes a 3-0 win against Santo Sept. 9 before Lingleville hosted a volleyball tournament Sept. 11 and 13 where the varsity girls took third place. This placement followed 2-0 wins over Ranger and Oglesby and a 2-1 win over Zephyr on Thursday followed on Saturday by a 2-1 loss to Oglesby and 2-0 wins over Three Way and Dublin.
They also claimed a 3-1 win over Merdian Friday, Sept. 12.
Haught admitted the packed schedule might have got to the Lady Cards in the Saturday morning loss to Oglesby.
“But that is a good team, and this isn’t football where you get a week between games and only play 10 on the season,” Haught said. “We are young, and it was good for us to experience failure like that. We had beaten Oglesby twice already, so maybe we took them for granted. Young teams do that. But I am so proud of how they bounced back and swept the next two games.”
“I love this team,” he added. “I love how they play together, and I love how they are as people outside of sports. I’ve got full faith in this team and this is going to be a fun a ride the rest of the way!”
The JV advanced to 5-6 after a 2-0 win over Gorman Sept. 9.
Haught selected the following players of the week: Denise Toledo for Varsity, Ava Mendez for JV, Alessandra Tamayo for JH Maroon and Layla Salinas for JH White.