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KOUNTZE – It was another tough loss for the Bridge City Lady Cardinals in the Class 4A Region III Quarterfinals Tuesday night as they fell to the Huffman Lady Falcons for the second straight year in the same round. At Kountze High School.

The Lady Cardinals got off to rough starts in the first two games, rallied back to take Game Three, but the Lady Falcons blew open Game Four to nail down a 25-19, 25-15, 23-25, 25-12 victory.

The loss ends a great season for the Lady Cardinals in Coach Savanah DeLuna’s first year at the helm. The Lady Cardinals rolled to a 39-6 overall record and went a perfect 12-0 in District 22-4A in strolling to the district crown.

The Lady Falcons took control early and had a supreme night with overall team balance at the net.

Huffman (45-4) finished with 61 kills while the Lady Cardinals had 35.

Kristen Kruger led the Lady Falcons with 13 kills. Brooke Guerrero and Carli Briese chimed in with 12 apiece while McKenzie Anderson had 11 and Erin Drvenkar added six.

For the Lady Cardinals, senior standout Harlee Tupper led the way, tying Huffman’s Kruger with a match-high13 kills. Demi Carter collected nine kills while Morgan Louvier had six and Caryss Carpenter had four and Taryn Doiron three.

The Lady Falcons netted 59 points off their service game to go along with seven aces while the Lady Cardinals finished with 32 points and three aces.

Guerrero had 13 points and an ace for the Lady Falcons. Aubrey Espree notched 12 points and two aces. Emma Shannon also had 12 points and an ace. RYlan Hancock claimed 11 points and two aces and Drvenkar had seven points and an ace.

Doiron had eight points and an ace for the Lady Cardinals while Carter also had eight service points. Tupper had six points and two aces and Carpenter had five points.

The Lady Cardinals fell behind in Game One 12-5 but scrapped their way all the way back to a 18-18 tie. However, the Lady Falcons went on a 7-1 spurt to seal it.

Bridge City put itself in a 12-5 hole again in Game Two and Huffman didn’t let the Lady Cardinals back in it as the Lady Falcons tallied six of the last eight points to win it by 10.

Game Three was tight most of the way as the gritty Lady Cardinals didn’t go out without a fight.

Huffman looked to close it with a 20-15 lead but Bridge City got right back in it with a 5-0 run to tie it at 20-20. The Lady Falcons went back up 22-20 but Bridge City knotted it up at 22-22 and finished with a 3-1 mini-spurt to seal it.

The Lady Falcons took off with the match in Game Four. They broke a 8-8 tie with a 6-0 run to go up 14-8. Bridge City trimmed it to 14-10 but the Lady Falcons continued their torrid pace at the net, finishing off the match with a 11-2 spurt.