Bryson girls have season ended

BOYD – Bryson’s volleyball squad learned a very important lesson Saturday afternoon:

Size does matter.

Avalon senior Jordan Poarch, a 6’2” specimen at middle blocker, had her way on the frontcourt against the Cowgirls, laying down 17 kills and coming through with five blocks to help the Lady Eagles end the Cowgirls’ season with a 25-21, 26-24, 25-18 triumph. Bryson ends its campaign at 25-13 while Avalon is now 28-9.

Bryson Mentor Chelsea Kincaid said Poarch’s physical presence was too much to overcome.

“We simply couldn’t get her out of our heads,” Kincaid said. “Once that overall decline gets in motion, it messes with your mojo and it did here.”

Bryson gave a gritty performance for the first two games of the match, fighting from behind but not letting Avalon get away. Down 5-2 in game one, a Hope Guttery kill set up a pair of Sydney Davidson points to knot the game at five.

The Cowgirls would again fall behind by three only to have Nikki Goodman roll off a trio of points to knot the game at 12. It would be the last knot of the game as pairs of points by Cody Trotter and Caitlan Christopher would enable the Lady Eagles to pull away.

Bryson would be down 7-3 n game two but a pair of Brandy Larance points and a Guttery kill and ace would tie the game at eight. Sophomore Maddee Moore would later put down a pair of points to give Bryson an 11-10 lead.

Maryum Keyser broke a 13-all tie and set the stage for a five-point Davidson string, aided by a Moore kill, as Bryson took a 20-14 lead. The Cowgirls led 24-20 and were ready to even the match at a game apiece.

Avalon Coach Tony Hernandez had other ideas, calling a timeout, his first of the 73-minute match. It did the trick as the Lady Eagles broke serve and then let Hailey Duckett finish the job with five straight points, the finale put down by an Audrey Beakley kill.

Bryson never fully recovered from that, although the Cowgirls took a 5-2 lead in game three on a pair of Makayla Foyt tallies. Avalon went up 7-5 on four Lindsay Rankin points, two of the tallies put home on Poarch kills.

Larance had an ace among her two points which gave Bryson an 8-7 lead. It would be the Cowgirls’ last lead as pairs of points from Trotter and Laney Sauers and a trio of tallies from Christopher put the Lady Eagles up eight.

Single tallies from Keyser, Davidson and Guttery would not be enough as Poarch put down the final nail in the coffin to end the match.