Lady Leps Start District With Win Over Smithville

When district starts, the La Grange volleyball team always comes to play.

After an up-and-down preseason, the three-time defending co-district champ La Grange volleyball team began District 22-4A play Tuesday and beat Smithville 25-22, 2515, 18-25, 27-25.

No matter that the Lady Tigers came into the match with a 18-11 record and the Lady Leps arrived with a 1218 mark, it was La Grange coming through in the end of a tense night.

“You always have to bring more intensity in district. These are the ones that really count,” said La Grange senior libero Haylie Cooper.

“I’m proud of the girls for the way they battled,” La Grange head coach Leslie Coltrain said. “During that time out (before Smithville was serving for set point in the fourth set) I told the girls, I’m not panicking, you don’t panic. And they got the job done.”

La Grange rallied from a slow start to win the first set and then looked like worldbeaters in a dominating second set.

“That’s the goal. We want to be that second set team all the time,” Coltrain said.

But Smithville rallied to win the third set and then went back and forth with the Lady Leps in the fourth set. Smithville was even up 24-23 at one time before La Grange grabbed the set and the match 27-25.

Carley Ulrich had three big kills to power La Grange late in the fourth set.

“We’ve really been working with her on reading blocks and seeing where they are,” Coltrain said. “When Carley makes a good approach on balls, there’s not much she can’t do.”

Ulrich, who is just a sophomore, led La Grange in kills with 25 and Kylie Trlicek had 16.

Haylie Cooper and Kylie Trlicek each had 15 digs, Phoebe Tucker had 14 and Jena Jobb had 13.

Trlicek led in assists with 26 and Tucker had 19.

Kenna Lamza led in blocks with four and Landri Hernandez had three.

Also Tuesday the La Grange JV lost to Smithville 21-25, 21-25 to fall to 8-8 overall and 0-1 in district.

The La Grange freshman lost to Smithville 19-25, 22-25 to fall to 5-11 overall and 0-1 in district.

The La Grange volleyball teams travel to Taylor on Friday. Varsity begins at 5 p.m. in the next chapter of what looks like will be a wild district race.

“You can throw everything out the window. I think it’s going to come down to which team can put it all together late,” Coltrain said. “We want the district title, we want it by ourselves, it’s our goal, but we’re going to have to work for it every day in practice.”