A female volleyball player in a purple uniform crouches with arms extended to pass a ball during a rally in an indoor gym, with teammates and spectators in the bleachers behind. — Canyon’s Keagan Cantu passes the ball during a District 4-4A match against Hereford on Tuesday night at the Joe Lombard Gymnasium.

It was the start Canyon head coach Sara Morath was looking from her team.

The Lady Eagles operated superbly on offense and defense which resulted in a four-set victory (25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20) to open District 4-4A action Tuesday night at the Joe Lombard Gymnasium on the campus of Canyon High School.

The Lady Eagles picked up where they left off non-district play pushing their overall record to 19-6 and are now 1-0 in district play.

“Getting a win to open district was big for us,” Morath said. “We have been working on a lot of things that August showed us and we’re wanting to keep getting better. Hereford is never an easy team for us to play. It’s a rivalry game and we wanted to come out and get a win and we did that.”

Female volleyball player in white jersey (number 12) jumps to spike the ball past two blockers at the net. — Canyon’s Neelie Hanson knocked down 12 kills in a win over Hereford on Tuesday.

Canyon soared early winning the first two sets, but the Lady Whitefaces (14-15, 0-1) didn’t go down without a fight with a third set victory to force a forth set. The Lady Eagles were able to rely on the offense of Laney Jones and Neelie Hanson to put Hereford away in the fourth set to claim the match.

“I think we served the ball really well,” Morath said. “We were able to get them out of system and we had multiple players hitting and connecting the ball across the net. Neelie (Hanson) and Laney (Jones) were amazing for us in this win and Jaymi Dobbs was awesome on her block at the net.”

Women’s volleyball players celebrate, smiling and high-fiving on the court during a game. — Canyon’s Braylee Crockett, from right, celebrates with her teammates during a win against Hereford.

Jones was definitely the star of the night landing 20 kills and then did her job on defense with 24 digs for a double-double. Hanson followed with 12 kills and Brylee McElroy was the facilitator with 20 assists. Keagan Cantu was another key cog on defense for Canyon laying out for 17 digs.

Hereford’s Karizma Rivera totaled 13 kills with teammate Layla Mendoza tacking on 12 kills to lead the Lady Whitefaces.

QUICK HITS

In the rest of District 4-4A on Tuesday, Randall rolled to a four-set victory at home against Dumas with scores of 24-26, 25-18, 25-18, 25-10. The front row for Randall was the difference. Outside hitter Chloe Brown powered down 18 kills along with 19 digs for a double-double. Teammate Amber Matthews had 15 kills and Camryn Massengale added 10. Randall (23-5) opens district at 1-0 while Dumas (14-9) drops to 0-1.

West Plains went on the road and earned a four-set win at Pampa on Tuesday. The Lady Wolves were able to beat the Lady Harvesters by scores of 25-20, 21-25, 25-13, 25-12. West Plains pushes its overall record to 16-11 and are now 1-0 in the league. Pampa (16-11) slips to 0-1 in district. Teagan Hudson had her swing working landing 18 kills for the Lady Wolves. Teammate Idaly Sotelo was the leader on defense with 28 digs.

Borger is in the win column after getting a sweep of Perryton 25-10, 25-18, 25-22, on Tuesday. Addy Bridges was electric in the win for the Lady Bulldogs slamming down 22 kills with four blocks. Borger improves to 11-9 on the year and 1-0 in District 4-4A. The Rangerettes fall to 11-17, 0-1.