Lindale rallies for key 16-4A win over Van

Published 9:21 pm Tuesday, October 4, 2022

LINDALE — With a week against the top two teams in the District 16-4A volleyball standings on the schedule, the Lindale Lady Eagles knew they had a challenge in front of them.

On Tuesday, the Lady Eagles got behind two sets to none against second-place Van.

The Lady Eagles rallied to force a fifth set, and Addison Ridge’s kill sealed the victory for Lindale (21-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-13).

“I believed in the girls from the start,” Lindale interim coach Kamryn Pilkinton said. “They’ve been through this before. We’ve been working hard all season to really work on that coming back after going two sets down. And then in that fifth set, we’ve worked a lot on fifth-set mentality, and we made a lot of changes and gotten stronger mentally and physically, so I’m super proud of how the girls finished and fought.

“We lost to them in the first round, so we had it in our heads we were going to win this next round. We were going to go super hard. Our week is not over. We still have a tough week coming up, so we can only get better form here. We’ve got to go to practice tomorrow, get better every day and win Friday.”

On Friday, Lindale (16-17, 4-3) will host No. 8 Canton (24-7, 6-0) at 4:30 p.m.

But first, the Lady Eagles can enjoy Tuesday’s victory over the rival Lady Vandals.

In the opening set, Van got up 12-7 behind the serving of Abby Clyburn. Up 23-17, Lindale scored four straight points before Van scored two straight to win the set.

Van jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the second set. And up 20-14, the Lady Vandals used a 5-3 spurt to end the set with a 2-0 advantage.

Van led 8-4 in the third set, but Lindale reeled off seven straight points to take an 11-8 lead. Van came back to tie the score at 13. The Lady Eagles then had a 6-1 run to lead 21-15. Up 23-18, Lindale got a kill from Aspen Ives and an ace by Reagan Hope to keep the match alive.

The fourth set was tight with Lindale holding a slim 9-8 lead before the Lady Eagles used a 10-2 run to stretch their lead, eventually winning the set on a kill by Maddox Lay to force a fifth and decision set.

In the fifth set, Lindale led 10-6 after an ace by Ridge and a kill by Ridge. With the Lady Eagles ahead 12-8 following a tandem block by Ives and Reagan Cats, Ashlyn Lloyd helped Van cut the score to 12-11. Lindale got up 14-11 before two straight kills from Van’s Bella Thompson to cut the score to 14-13. Ridge then delivered the match-clinching kill.

Ridge and Lay each had 14 kills. Ridge also had 14 digs. Brooke Tweedell had six kills and three blocks. Kayli Vickery had six kills and six blocks. Cates had four kills and an ace. Ives had three blocks. Tatum Woodard had 21 assists, and Anna Ivy had 15 assists. Hope had 18 digs.

Before the match, Lindale honored the officials with a gift and recognized their junior high volleyball teams.

Van (21-11, 5-2) will host Athens on Oct. 11.