By BRUCE HARPER

Bee-Picayune staff

It took the Lady Trojan varsity volleyball team a couple of games to get in the swing of things, but the Beeville girls came to life in games three and four to put away the visiting Ray Lady Texans on Friday night. The scores were 25-20, 20-25, 25-13 and 25-16.

“The girls didn’t play their best match, but after Ray tied the match at one game apiece, the girls did a good job of playing defense,” said A.C. Jones High head coach Larry Lollar.

“Ray did a very good job of playing defense on us and we really need to be up for them when we go to their place.”

The Lady Trojans jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in game one, but the visitors came back late in the contest to make a game of it. The Lady Trojans never trailed but the Lady Texans pulled within one at 19-18 before the Lady Trojans outscored Ray 6-2 over the last few minutes to capture the first game of the best of five match, 25-20.

Game two was a good deal closer early on, but the Lady Trojans had things their way until the midway point. With the score tied at 13-13, the Ray Lady Texans scored the next five points to take a commanding 18-13 lead. The Beeville ladies got no closer than three points the rest of the way as Ray outlasted the Beeville girls 25-20 in game two to even the match at 1-1.

The Lady Trojan defense led the way in games three and four. The Beeville hustle on “D” led to a 9-2 start in game three. The Ray Lady Texans never challenged and game three went to the Beeville ladies, rather easily, 25-13.The match was now in the hands of the Beeville girls at two games to one.

Game four went much the same. The Lady Trojans ran off and captured that game 25-16 to earn a 3-1 victory over the visitors. The win improved the Lady Trojans’ overall record to 18-11 and 3-1 in district play. Ray falls to 2-3 in district.

Outside hitter Hillary Hennig led the Lady Trojan offense with 20 kills. The service game was also a highlight as the Beeville ladies hit for six aces in the match. Natalie Elder and Cassandra Vela each had two aces in the win. Vela set up 28 points for assists to help on offense. Erin Tabb played big along the net with five of the team’s nine blocks. Libero Audrey Jones was solid on defense with a team-high 12 digs.

“Hillary (Hennig) hit well for us and Cassandra (Vela), Audrey (Jones) and Natalie (Elder) served well,” Lollar said.

The Beeville ladies entertained the Port Lavaca Sandies on Tuesday night and will travel to Gregory-Portland this Friday night to meet the Lady Wildcats in the last match of round one of district play.