Tigerettes take opening set, fall 3-1 to Lady Blues

Jacksboro proved they’re making strides in a slow start to the season Friday evening at Graham High School. After upsetting the Lady Blues in the first set, they eventually fell 22-25, 25-21, 25-9, 25-13.

Much like the Tigerettes under first-year coach Kelli Barnett, the Lady Blues are a team in transition. After graduating all but two varsity players from last year’s roster, the Lady Blues are starting over from nearly the ground up with a roster that is 40% freshman.

The Tigerettes entered the match on an 11-match losing streak and in the first set looked primed to turn things around. They were able to take advantage of the mistakes from the Lady Blues to keep the set close throughout. It took the 14th rally of the set for senior Teagan Reynolds to register her team’s first kill and evened the set at 7-7.

After giving up a kill to the Lady Blues, junior Erin Jonas evened the score again at 8-8. The Tigerettes briefly fell behind once more after a swing shot into the net. An ace and kill on back-to-back rallies by Reynolds gave the Tigerettes a lead from which they never looked back from in the set with the lone exception of a tie at 18-18. From there, the Tigerettes scored on a block that sailed out of bounds by Rachel Grimsley of the Lady Blues and another kill by Reynolds, her third of the set.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Sept. 8, edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.