Robert E. Lee could’ve forced a potential playoff for third place in the district if the Lady Raiders defeated Mesquite Horn on Tuesday night.

The visiting Lady Jaguars made sure that wasn’t the case.

Led by 15 kills from Horn’s Rene Chidozie, Mesquite Horn defeated REL in a three-game sweep, 25-22, 25-17 and 25-15.

Mesquite Horn senior setter Paige Taylor finished with 31 assists with senior Andi Spearman notching 10 kills.

The Lady Raiders (23-14, 4-6) dropped their third straight match in sweep fashion despite junior Taylor Winchester and senior Mallori Dike finishing with 21 and 12 digs, respectively. Lee senior Rebekah Bowden had eight kills and Nicole Trpkosh finished with 11 assists.

But REL also committed 28 unforced errors; something coach Melissa Lee said continues to hamper her team’s ability to win matches.

“That’s plagued all season; our mistakes,” Lee said. “We play a great first game and we don’t win and then we don’t come back. We’re having trouble coming back from that.”

These two teams played five games in their first meeting with REL falling short, 3-2. That made the rematch important for a potential tiebreaker for playoff seeding.

The Red Raiders and Lady Jaguars treated those in attendance at Lee Varsity Gymnasium to a tightly contested opening game. Lee trailed 17-12 before methodically pulling the score back to within a point, 20-19, off kills from Emily Starr and Jamie Mills.

Then Chidozie took over. The Lady Jags outside hitter had only registered one kill up to this point, but hammered down spikes to set up game point, 24-21.

REL missed its serve to end the first game, 25-22.

Games 2 and 3 were not as close. Mesquite Horn built a 20-7 lead in Game 2, and only a late surge by the Lady Raiders thanks to strong serving from Trpkosh and Jamesha Hutton, made the final score 25-17.

In Game 3, REL built an 8-5 lead only to watch it evaporate into a 15-15 score.

Horn won the next seven straight points to close out the game and end the match.

—

District 12-5A

Mesquite Horn 3, Robert E. Lee 0

Mesquite Horn252525

Robert E. Lee221715

KILLS LEADERS — MH: Rene Chidozie, 15, Andi Spearman 10. REL: Rebekah Bowden, 8; Claire Himes, 5.

DIGS LEADERS — REL: Taylor Winchester, 21, Mallori Dike, 12.

ASSISTS LEADERS — MH: Paige Taylor, 31. REL: Nicole Trpkosh, 11; Genesis Borens, 8.

ACES LEADERS — REL: Jamesha Hutton, 2.

RECORDS — Mesquite Horn (8-2); Robert E. Lee 23-14 (4-6)

NEXT UP — Mesquite at Lee, 6:30 p.m.