Published: November 07, 2009 08:41 pm      

Lady Bears fall to Magnolia in three straight

MONT BELVIEU — The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears ran into a wall Saturday evening at Barbers Hill High School.

The wall being the front line of the Magnolia Lady Bulldogs.

Magnolia used their height and power to push past LC-M in a three-game sweep in the Class 4A Region III Area Round playoffs.

Magnolia (30-13) defeated LC-M (33-7) by a score of 25-10, 25-15 and 25-21.

Magnolia hitters Courtney Felinski (6’2”) and Katzy Randall (5’11”) combined for 33 kills and did a nice job containing LC-M senior Christine Sicktich.

Sicktich finished with just five kills to go with seven assists and an ace.

Magnolia also got a superb match from setter Paige Holland who had 33 assists to lead the match in that category.

The Lady Bears, who won the District 20-4A championship this season, made Game 3 interesting.

LC-M took a 19-18 lead when a Magnolia shot hit the net.

The Lady Bulldogs quickly tied the score and then never looked back.

LC-M continued to fight until the end Randall turned a 22-21 Magnolia advantage to the decisive 25-21 score with three straight kills to end the match.

Magnolia started Game 1 off quickly as Latasha Jones struck for four straight service points as the Lady Bulldogs led 5-0 until Sicktich connected for a kill.

The Lady Bears did not do themselves any favors in the first game with 11 hitting errors.

A final LC-M serve landed out of bounds to give Magnolia a quick 25-10 win in Game 1.

Jones did to LC-M again early in Game 2 from serve with six straight service points as Magnolia took a 7-1 lead.

The Lady Bears continued to struggle while they were serving as six points were given to the Lady Bulldogs by LC-M serves not being on point.

The Lady Bulldogs then continued to take advantage of the Lady Bears’ mistakes and won Game 2, 25-15.

Kellie Tilley ended the match with five assists while Ashton LaVergne and Shelby Apperson added five kills. Megan Kemp finished the match with three kills.

The matched ended a spectacular career for Sicktich while LaVergne, Apperson, Elissa Tate and Shelby Sanchez will also graduate in 2010.

LC-M will look to rebuild next year in hopes of capturing their third-straight district championship.