Published: October 28, 2009 01:06 am      

Lady Bears storm to 20-4A net title

LITTLE CYPRESS — Once is great.

Two times is twice as nice.

For the first time in school history, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears captured back-to-back District 20-4A crowns by making a clean sweep of the Beaumont Ozen Lady Panthers 25-21, 25-14, 25-23 at The Bear Cave Tuesday night in front of a huge partisan crowd.

With the win the Lady Bears (30-7, 13-1) finished one game ahead of Port Neches-Groves (12-2) to claim the title. Ozen (23-10, 10-4) will represent 20-4A in the playoffs as the third-place unit while the Nederland lady Bulldogs go in as the fourth-place unit.

“I couldn’t be happier for such a wonderful group of kids,” said long-time LC-M volleyball coach Vicki Castino. “Many of them were part of a great team last year and they can always brag about how they were the first to win back-to-back district championships. All of the hard work paid off and they certainly deserve it.”

Ozen was also the team LC-M defeated last year in the final regular season game to clinch the title as both teams were tied for the 20-4A lead going into that one.

“Ozen has such a great team,” said Castino. “They hit the ball so hard and have some great players. We knew it was going to be a tough match but the girls made all the big points when they had too.”

Senior Christine Sicktich once again powered the LC-M arsenal. Sicktich finished with 16 kills, 10 points and two aces.

Senior Ashton LaVergne poured out 10 kills while fellow seniors Amy Laughlin and Shelby Apperson had seven apiece.

Junior Kellie Tilley, who was masterful with her sets, had five points and a team-high four aces. Elissa Tate contributed 10 points, two aces and three kills. Allison Walker had eight points and two aces and Shelby Sanchez posted seven points and two aces. Kalyn Harkness also had a strong defensive effort.

In the decisive Game Three, the Lady Bears led 20-15 only to see the Lady Panthers scratch back to tie it at 22-22. LC-M went up 24-22 after a Sanchez ace and after Ozen got to within one the Lady Bears closed it out.

Ozen led Game Three 5-0 only to see LC-M score eight of the next nine points.

Ozen led Game Two 3-0 but the Lady Bears found their grip and pulled away behind the smashes of Sicktich and LaVergne, who combined for 10 kills in the gamer. Tilley sealed it when she served up two aces for the 25-14 win.

The Lady Bears led Game One by as much as 14-4 but the Lady Bears zapped back in fine fashion and cut the margin to 22-20 before the Lady Bears scored three of the last four points.

Alexus Brannon had a strong outing for Ozen, finishing with nine kills, four blocks and five points. Erica Lewis and Alexia Thomas had six kills apiece while Sarah Nobles had three and Robin Hancock two. Hancock and Somalia Randle each had six points and an ace for the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Bears will take on either Goose Creek Memorial or Kingwood Park in the Class 4A Region III bidistrict playoffs Tuesday at Lamar University’s McDonald Gym.

The Lady Bears fell to Dayton in the bidistrict round a year ago.

“We’re going to celebrate the district championship and then we’ve got to go back to work,” said Castino. “The kids want to get past the first round so bad this year. I have a whole lot of confidence in them and they’re excited to move on and play some more. It was a great win for us tonight. We couldn’t be happier with the big crowd we had. We also have a great group of parents that have been there with all kinds of support.”