There is no telling what the case was Tuesday in Vernon, but the Bridgeport High School volleyball team waited to the last second - or point - to finish off a winless opponent. The Sissies won the last two games of the match and held on late in the fifth contest to get out of town with a 19-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 15-13 victory.
Four days after taking Decatur down to the wire before losing a five-game thriller, Bridgeport found itself playing five more in its first trip back to the hardwood against the Lions.
Three of the five games were decided by just two points. In addition, the locals had to fight from behind in four of them late in the game to avoid the upset and falling into fifth place.
In the end, however, Bridgeport's Jessica Hartsell had a career-high day to make sure there were no surprises. The Sissies ended nearly every Vernon rally late in the match and held on to pick up the win and avoid a third straight loss.
"We did a much better job of staying focused," BHS coach Lynn Larson said. "We didn't let Vernon get the momentum and have big scoring runs. It was a good team effort."
The win allowed Bridgeport to move into a tie for third place with Burkburnett at 2-2 in district play and 18-12 overall.
Burk was swept by Decatur on Tuesday.
Hartsell's performance put the Sissies in a position to battle back from a two-games-to-one deficit. She crushed a career-high 16 kills and had a career-high 20 digs to give her team an extra push when leading hitter Janie Foreman was on the back row.
Foreman did not disappoint as she cranked out a match-high 19 kills for the night. Bailey Jones and Haley Meekins provided some much-needed balance with seven kills each.
The hitters were all aided by another solid showing from setter Shannon Demmitt. The senior accumulated a district-high 40 assists for the night.
Defensively, Foreman, Meekins and Jones were all solid at the net. The trio finished with four blocks each which gave Vernon consistent problems.
The back row was anchored by Jones who had a match-high 21 digs. Demmitt thwarted the Lions as well with 10 digs of her own, one more than Foreman with nine. Kim Bible added five digs to go along with her four kills and two aces.
District 5-3A standings
Team Dist. Overall Iowa Park 4-0 23-4 Decatur 4-0 17-10 Burkburnett 2-2 8-12 Bridgeport 2-2 18-12 Vernon 0-4 6-17 Hirschi 0-4 8-17
