HARRISON - Mansfield began defense of its state title Tuesday afternoon with a smooth and quick 3-0 victory over Episcopal Collegiate in the opening match of the Class 3A volleyball state tournament at Brandon Burlsworth Youth Center.
The Lady Tigers, the champions of the 3A-West Conference, have advanced to the state title match three of the past five seasons while winning championships in 2009 and 2012. Although they fell behind in all three sets Tuesday, the Lady Tigers never panicked.
“At times I thought we played really well,” said April Howell, in her first year as Mansfield’s head coach after serving as an assistant for six years under Brent Reeves. “It was like a typical tournament where you are playing the first game of the day and it takes you a while to get going.”
Caroline Burns and Kristin Barnes each had a kill as Episcopal grabbed an early 2-0 lead. The Lady Tigers bounced back to take a 4-3 edge on kills by Erin Reano, Kaylie Pyles and Mallory Ward before Episcopal pulled even again at 4-4 on a kill by libero Brooke Davis.
Mansfield took control of the game by scoring five in a row, getting kills from Sierra Grady and Pyles and an ace from Ward. The Lady Tigers eventually pulled out to an 11-5 lead after an ace by Pyles. The Lady Wildcats made one last push to get within 12-10 on a kill by Burns, but Mansfield went on a 6-1 run for a 19-11 lead and eventually went up 23-12 on kills by Ward and Reano. Episcopal scored one last point on a kill by Davis before a kill by Pyles and a Lady Wildcats error ended the game.
Two Mansfield errors started the second set as Episcopal led 3-0 on a kill by Burns and 4-1 on a kill by Jamesha Alexander. The Lady Tigers eventually pulled even at 6-6 on a kill by Pyles, which was the start of a 6-0 run that gave Mansfield a 10-6 lead.
Episcopal managed to pull within three points only once more. Mansfield went up 13-7 on back-to-back kills by Reano and Grady and put away the game with a 7-0 run to go up 21-9. Samantha Stipins had two kills and a block during the run and Erica McKay served an ace.
Episcopal cut the gap to 24-16, getting kills from Sydney Morgan and Delia Wade, but a hitting error gave Mansfield the winning point.
Mansfield scored the first point of the final game before falling behind 2-1 on a kill by Barnes, but the Lady Tigers used a 6-0 run to take a 7-2 lead. Pyles had two kills in the run while Stipins had one and Ward had a block.
Kills by Ward and Grady made it 11-4, and a 9-2 run put Mansfield up 23-7 on three consecutive kills by Reano. Episcopal cut the lead to 24-11 before another hitting error gave the Lady Tigers the game.
“I’ve told our team numerous times that we’re not perfect and no one else is perfect in this sport,” Howell said. “We are going to make some errors, and they are going to make some errors. Sometimes things just aren’t going to work out, but you just keep on swinging and keep on hitting.
“We did a good job of that today.”
Reano led Mansfield with eight kills and Pyles had seven.
Burns, a freshman, led Episcopal with seven kills. The Lady Wildcats had 36 hitting and service errors.
Sports, Pages 22 on 10/30/2013