Messenger photos by Joe Duty

BY RICHARD GREENE

The Decatur Lady Eagles entered the season wanting to make history by winning the varsity volleyball program’s first outright district title.

Decatur (36-5) completed that historic mission and a perfect 10-0 run through District 5-3A Tuesday night with a sweep of the league’s runner-up, Iowa Park. Decatur beat the Lady Hawks 25-21, 25-16, 25-15 at Iowa Park High School.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Decatur senior setter Fleming Smurthwaite. “We’ve never had this in Decatur. I’ve been on the varsity since I was a freshman. Our team chemistry is awesome. To get this title is awesome.”

Decatur coach Claire Rose said the team worked hard to reach this goal.

“They had this set as a goal for the season,” Rose said. “They wanted it and pushed every day for it.”

The district title gives Decatur a bye through the first round of the playoffs. The Lady Eagles will open the playoffs with a Class 3A Region II area round match Nov. 5-7. Decatur will play Nocona Thursday in a warm-up match at 7 p.m.

Junior outside hitter Sara Oxford said the team is ready to start the playoffs.

“We hope to go to state, but we’ve got to focus and take it step by step,” she said.

Iowa Park entered Tuesday’s match with only one league loss and a chance to stake claim to a share of the district title. Early in the match, Iowa Park looked up to the task of derailing Decatur’s perfect run. Iowa Park owned a six-point advantage late in the first game before Decatur rallied to get the four-point victory.

“It was back and forth,” Rose said. “They were prepared for us. We came back from the six-point deficit and kept working.”

Decatur also took game two, holding off Iowa Park for a nine-point win.

With the chance to complete the sweep and secure the district title, Decatur buried Iowa Park early in game three, grabbing an 18-7 lead.

“They didn’t want to lose a game,” Rose said. “They wanted to make a statement going into the playoffs.”

Oxford hammered home a kill to build the Decatur lead to 23-9. Oxford finished with a match-high 16 kills.

“Coach Rose helped me a lot and told me where to hit it,” Oxford said.

Decatur reached match point at 24-10 on an Iowa park hitting error and the smiles began to appear on players’ faces. The celebration was delayed momentarily as Iowa Park began a five-point rally to get back within nine, 24-15.

Smurthwaite and Annelise Carpenter set off the celebration combining for a block-kill to end the match and wrap up the league title.

Smurthwaite finished with 32 assists and 13 digs. Kortney Tompkins recorded 12 kills.