Lady Cards fall in three sets, drop to second seed in playoffs

HALLETTSVILLE — This season, the biggest issue for Shiner St. Paul was their inability to start a game fast and get things rolling right away. Last Thursday night against the Sacred Heart Indianettes, the Lady Cardinals did the opposite, as they were unable to finish sets with a win, which led to not finishing out the season with an outright district title.

In a game that determined the top seed out of district, Hallettsville Sacred Heart would come away with the last laugh as they swept Shiner St. Paul (25-22, 26-2, 25-22) at home, less than a month after blowing a two-set lead against the Lady Cards.

“I think we got tight towards the end [of sets],” Lady Cards’ head coach Kayla Natho said, “we got scared to make errors and the hitters weren’t hitting the ball. They were trying to push it, they were trying to be cute with it and that’s not how you win volleyball games, especially against good teams.”

The Lady Cardinals held a lead throughout the first set, going up 11-8 with kills coming in from all across the court. Sacred Heart went on a 5-0 run to take the lead before the Lady Cardinals answered with a run of their own.

Up 21-18, Sacred Heart would score the next seven out of eight points to win the set 25-21.

The next set was dominated early on by St. Paul, with their biggest lead coming late in the game as they led 20-15.

The Lady Cardinals were getting points from kills by Delynn Pesek, Parker Clay, Ashlyn Patek and Allie Kutac.

Natho talked about their aggressiveness up front, saying it’s when they play best.

“As long as they’re all swinging, they’re putting [their opponents] in a bad situation,” she explained. “They don’t have to get a kill every time to get a good hit, as long as we keep them out of system so we can get the ball back and maybe put it away on the next time, that’s what I want. I don’t need a kill every time.”

Sacred Heart’s Jami Shimek turned it on and got four kills to take the next four out of five points, cutting the lead to 21-20. Kaylin Dworsky and Madison Etzler got in with kills as well to tie the game at 23 apiece.

A mistake by Shimek gave Shiner St. Paul set point, up 24-23, but three straight points by Etzler, with two straight on kills and a tip gave Sacred Heart the second set 26-24 win.

“If you have hitters like [Shimek] that they’re going to get a kill almost every time they touch the ball, then we have to respond,” Natho said. “You have to respond with your serve receive because if you don’t then they continue to go on runs and get momentum, so getting a first-ball kill is something that’s high on our priority list.”

The third set was a bit more back-and-forth, as the two rival teams had nine lead changes in the set.

St. Paul’s attacks slowed down near the end, with attackers opting to push or tip a ball over rather than taking a full swing.

“I understand if it’s a bad set and your feet just aren’t there and you don’t trust yourself but it’s another thing when it is a good set and you can make something happen, just being too scared to get it and I think that’s what happened tonight,” Natho theorized. “I told the girls we need to get better at our out-of-system plays, you know instead of just sending the other team free balls we need to find a way to get an attack out of that.”

Up 21-19, St. Paul allowed Sacred Heart to score three straight before scoring their final point of the game to tie it at 22. Two attack errors and a block later, Hallettsville Sacred Heart would leave with the three-set win and the number-one seed out the district.

When asked if she was frustrated with the loss, especially after going 7-0 to start the district, but then losing two straight to their rivals, Natho said she wasn’t frustrated at all.

“I think getting first or second for both Sacred Heart and us, I think we’re in good spots to make a decent run in the playoff,” she said. “It’s just one more game, so, I’m not that worried about it. We wanted to win tonight to be district champs so we don’t have to share that, you know, that wasn’t the case so now we just have to work a little bit harder, have to play a little bit more. That’s just how it works.”

Although they lost, Natho did see a bit of fire out of her girls, something she wants to see continue throughout a hopefully deep playoff run.

“I was proud of the way the girls played tonight,” Natho said. “We had a couple long rallies and they stuck it out. It’s fun to see, it’s fun to see them play volleyball like that.”

Hallettsville Sacred Heart came away with a bye with this win. Meanwhile, Shiner St. Paul will begin their tournament run Thursday at home. They take on San Antonio Christian Academy at 6 p.m.