WEST ORANGE – Little Cypress-Mauriceville’s Lady Bears swept through the District 24-4A campaign on their way to a district title last season.

The quest to do it again started Tuesday night.

It wasn’t easy, but the Lady Bears were able to escape Mustang Gym with a dramatic 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 26-24 win over the surging West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs.

Every game was tight but it was the Lady Bears (9-7, 1-0) that had the final answer in turning back the Lady Mustangs (12-3, 0-1).

LC-M used a balanced attack to turn back the Lady Mustangs.

Maddie Frey paved the way for LC-M as she notched 14 kills. MaKenzie Hearn and Alexis Cox both had nine kills for the Lady Bears while Madison Taggert, Jordyn West, Renna Toomey and Kaitlin Avery all had four apiece.

The LC-M win offset yet another tremendous effort by Lady Mustang senior Aaliyah Teel. Teel finished with a whopping 25 kills for the Lady Mustangs and also contributed 10 service points and five aces.

The Lady Mustangs lead Game One 5-1. The Lady Bears came back to tie it at 13-13 and then ran off six straight points to go up 19-13. The Lady Mustangs got to within 21-17 but LC-M finished it out with four of the next six points.

Game Two was nip-and-tuck throughout. The Lady Bears managed to snag a 21-17 cushion but the Lady Mustangs scrapped right back to take a 22-21 edge.

LC-M then found the magic by scoring four straight points, getting big kills from Taggert and Hearn at the end.

LC-M built a 5-1 lead in Game Three only to see the Lady Mustangs bounce back with the hitting of Teel, Ja’Tayiah Vital and Shatrya Allen.

The Lady Bears held a 23-22 edge only to see the Lady Mustangs run off with three straight points as WO-S won it 25-23.

The Lady Mustangs slowly watched Game Four get away from them after building leads of 9-2 and as much as 19-11 as the Lady Bears whittled away.

LC-M eventually tied it at 22-22 after a Frey smash. WO-S went back up 23-22 after a Teel kill and 24-22 after a Vital slam. However, the Lady Bears dug deep down and won the match by tallying the last four points with West scoring a big ace andf Avery came up with a huge kill that helped seal it.

Cox led the Lady Bears with 14 service points and had two aces. West collected 10 points and three aces. Alia Brown had eight points, an ace and added two kills. Morgan TYucker contributed seven points and an ace while Taggert added five points.

Phillis Jones tallied 12 points for the Lady Mustangs. Olivia Basinger had 11 points and an ace while Elecia Barlow had seven points. Vital finished with five kills for WO-S while Allen and Elecia Colbert added four apiece.

Both the Lady Bears and Lady Mustangs will participate in the YMBL Tournament in Beaumont Thursday and Saturday. LC-M will host Beaumont Central in non-district action Friday.