BANGS – The Bangs Lady Dragons evened their overall season record at 4-4 as they opened the home portion of their schedule with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-20 victory over the Brady Lady Bulldogs Tuesday night.
“Overall being the first home game I know they were a little bit nervous and we had a conversation about that in the locker room, but they came out ready to play, fired up,” said Lady Dragons head coach Colleen Westfall. “I’m real proud of the way that they played. Everything I asked them to do during the game, and even before the game, they executed perfectly. This is a gritty team and they’re a sponge absorbing everything I’m throwing at them.”
The Lady Dragons set the tone for the night by scoring the first six points of the opening set. Two kills each by Cameryn Harmon and Kasey Solis and an ace from Neeley Bradley ignited Bangs’ fast start.
Bangs led by a comfortable margin throughout the opening set, also aided by the play of Bradley and Ava Boren at the net, plus Kylee Byler served a pair of aces as well.
In the second set, the Lady Dragons fell behind 10-9 due to some unforced errors. However, following a time out, Bangs reeled off 12 of the next 13 points to seize control, 21-10. Behind the serving of Solis, which resulted in a pair of aces, Bradley and Harmon were again forces at the net, while Brady committed its own unforced miscues that assisted Bangs’ run.
Again in the final set Bangs found itself down, 16-15, but a kill from Boren evened the score and fueled an 8-2 surge that pushed the Lady Dragons to the brink of victory, 23-18. Bradley, Boren and Ashlynn Sliger added kills along the way, and Boren served an ace as well down the stretch. A couple of spikes from Bradley produced the final two points.
Boren led the way with eight for Bangs trailed by Solis and Bradley with seven apiece, Harmon with six, Sliger with two, and Justice Baker with one.
Bradley finished with 10 assists while Boren added seven and Julianna Ethridge was credited with a pair.
Solis and Byler each served three aces, Bradley and Cloey Petty contributed two and Boren and Ethridge finished with one apiece.
Defensively, Ethridge notched 12 digs followed by Byler with 10, Petty and Solis with nine each, Bradley with eight, Boren with five and Baker with one.
Harmon logged Bangs’ lone block.
“I’ve been really harping on running the faster offense and we had a lot more quicks tonight, which was really impactful in the game,” Westfall said. “They also placed their serves well, aiming for the lanes in between passers and those corner shots. They did a great job of improving those two things. We still need to work on our rotational defense, and then our out of system, where if the setter takes the first ball. We need to get better at that.”
Next for Bangs is action at the Heart of Texas tournament Friday and Saturday, with games at both the Brownwood Coliseum and Brownwood High School.
