Playing for their lives most of the afternoon, the Bushland Lady Falcons had to fight and claw with everything they had during the UIL Class 3A Division I state semifinals on Saturday at Wichita Falls Legacy High School.
With their backs against the wall time and time again, this young Lady Falcons team dug deep, found a way, and have now given themselves a chance at a three-peat for a state championship after rallying back to knock off Ponder in a five-set thriller, 23-25, 25-14, 28-30, 25-21, 15-11.
The Lady Falcons win their 40th game of the season, improving to 40-8 overall and will hope for win No. 41 with a third straight state championship when Bushland takes on Goliad (43-3) for the Class 3A Division I title at 11 a.m., Friday at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.
“We honestly haven’t talked about a three-peat,” said Bushland head coach Jason Culpepper, who will lead the Lady Falcons to a sixth straight state championship game appearance. “We just try to get a little better each time we play. This match saw a lot of growth for our team. It was a chance to go to state with a great bunch of young ladies who work together.”
The Lady Lions (30-13) had control behind standout outside hitter Kennedy Simon. Every point was a war especially in the third set where Ponder edged Bushland 30-28 to take a 2-1 lead.
“This was a great match all the way through,” said Culpepper, who is now 242-18 all-time at Bushland. “I thought we showed a lot of poise. All the games were very tight and we stuck together and all had a great connection with each other.”
However, the Lady Falcons showed that prestigious tradition, battling back to gut out the fourth and fifth set. This was a complete team effort from everyone on the floor. The Bushland hitters were on top of their game the entire way with Berklee Billington knocking down 20 kills and nabbing 17 digs for a double-double.
Laynee Adams slammed home 18 kills and what wasn’t expected was the attack on the net by Jori Clark. Clark came out of nowhere to power down 18 kills of her own as the trio of Billington, Adams and Clark combined for 56 kills. Clark also had 30 assists for a double-double, and Morgan Eberly was incredible passing the ball for 34 assists and added 10 digs for a double-double as well.
As for the defense, Ava Permenter had a showing of a lifetime. Permenter hardly let a ball hit the floor for an eye-opening 56 digs.
“Berklee, Jori and laynee were outstanding,” Culpepper said. “All the hitters were on and we had great balance. We played great in the system against a really good Ponder team that had a great hitter of their own. We did a fantastic job of reading and being in the right place, especially Ava. She was all over the place.”