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BEAUMONT – It was more of a nailbiter then they wanted it to be but the Bridge City Lady Cardinals are moving on to the Class 4A Region III area round of the playoffs by turning back the Hardin-Jefferson Lady Hawks 25-17, 25-21, 20-25, 26-24 in the bidistrict playoff round at Beaumont West Brook High School Tuesday night.

The District 22-4A champion Lady Cardinals (38-5) got all they could handle from the Lady Hawks (29-17), the fourth-place team out of 21-4A, but made the plays down the stretch when it counted as they will now move on to face the El Campo Lady Ricebirds in the area round.

Bridge City looked to have things in control after capturing the first two games and led 17-13 in Game Three. However, the Lady Hawks finished with a 12-3 spurt to force a Game 4.

The Lady Cardinals rallied from a 14-9 deficit in Game Four with a 14-6 spurt to lead 23-20. The Lady Hawks battled back and stove off one match-point for the Lady Cardinals to tie it at 24-24 but the Lady Cardinals managed to come away unscathed by tallying the last two points to seal it.

It was a well-played match by both squads.

The Lady Cardinals finished with 57 kills while the Lady Hawks piled up 48.

Bridge City seniors Harlee Tupper and Caryss Carpenter teamed up for 28 of the kills, both notching 14 apiece.

Demi Carter notched 12 kills while Morgan Louvier had nine, Taryn Doiron five and Nicole Sasser three.

Karyton Dawson racked up a match-high 16 kills to pace the Lady Hawks. Trinity Provost claimed 12 kills while Ashlyn Yarbrough claimed 10 and Logan Padgett six.

The Lady Cardinals scored 48 points off their service game while the Lady Hawks had 40.

Tupper was once again on point with her serves as she racked up a match-high 16 points to go along with a match-high five aces.

Louvier notched 11 points and two aces. Carter had nine points while Carpenter served up eight points and an ace.

Abby Wagenhauser led the Lady Hawks with 12 points and an ace. Padgett had 11 service points. Dawson had six points while Provost had five points and Andie Rogers had five points and an ace.

In Game One, the Lady Cardinals expanded an 8-7 cushion to 16-8 with an 8-1 run to control it.

Hardin-Jefferson made things tight in Game Two, erasing a 15-9 deficit to rally and tie it up at 20-20 but the Lady Cardinals finished strong, tallying five of the final six points.