Midlothian volleyball wins bi-district, area championships

By Travis M. Smith | KBEC Sports

The Midlothian Lady Panthers cruised into round three of the 5A volleyball playoffs following a pair of victories this past week.

The Lady Panthers first swept Mesquite Poteet in the bi-district round and followed with a four-set win Friday against Greenville.

Midlothian head volleyball coach Shain Sackett told KBEC Sports that the recent successes by the Lady Panthers come at no surprise.

“I expected this because I could see the talent back in August,” Sackett said. “Playing in all of those tournaments and having everyone get a chance to play, you could see glimpses of greatness here and there. And then we kind of lost that for a little bit but we are starting to put it all back together. It’s fun to see.”

Midlothian improved to 25-17 on the season with the two victories and advanced the 5A Region II quarterfinals.

BI-DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP

The Lady Panthers swept Mesquite Poteet (25-22, 25-24, 25-18) to open their 2019 playoff run.

“I don’t think we were firing on all six cylinders,” Sackett said after the win, “but we were doing enough to win the close points and were able to do just a little more, especially in that second set. I thought we were a really cohesive unit in that second set.”

Aryn Walton led the way with a 15-assist, 11-kill double-double, while also adding six digs, one block and one ace.

Kenna Buchanan recorded 10 kills, Camryn Hill had nine and Kennedy King finished with four kills and three blocks.

Madeline Smith provided a team-best 17 assists and added six digs and three aces to her stat line, while Jenna McMichael accounted for 21 digs.

AREA CHAMPIONSHIP

Madison Hall fired home a team-high 15 kills on a few of Walton’s team-high 40 assists in a four-set win against Greenville on Friday, 23-25, 25-14, 25-19, 26-24.

Walton added 12 digs, six kills and a pair of blocks and aces to her final stat line for the Lady Panthers, while Hall chipped in four digs and an ace.

Buchanan (11 kills) and Killian Armstong (8 kills) also benefitted from the strong play of Walton in the setter position. Armstong also had seven digs and a team-high four blocks.

UP NEXT

The Lady Panthers face Forney in the 5A Region II quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The match will be played at Duncanville High School.

PHOTO GALLERY

All photos by Fred Phipps/KBEC Sports

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Fred Phipps/KBEC Sports contributed to this report. 

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Travis M. Smith, @Travis5mith

tsmith@kbec.com