On Tuesday, the Paris Lady Wildcats faced another quality district foe on their home court. This time, the Pleasant Grove Lady Hawks made the trip to play in Wildcat Gymnasium. Despite a great start, inconsistent execution by Paris combined with Pleasant Grove’s ability to close sets proved too much. These aspects helped the Lady Hawks topple Paris in four sets. Paris was tripped up by a final score of 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, and 16-25.
Paris came out strong in the first set. The Lady ’Cats claimed the opening set 25-20 thanks to a healthy dose of dynamic offensive plays from junior outside hitter Macey McAmis. With her team trailing 9-4 in the early going, McAmis pummeled the ball for a loud kill to cut the deficit to 9-5. Later in the set, McAmis’ energy became infectious.
A kill from sophomore Reece Reavis trimmed the deficit to 11-10, then a kill and a tip from McAmis tied the set at 13-all a few points later. McAmis and sophomore middle Ava Tidwell recorded back-to-back blocks to extend the Lady ’Cats’ lead to 16-13. After that, junior libero Bella Hill showed great hustle to get the ball over during a long point. Her effort eventually resulted in a point for Paris. Then, McAmis punished the ball with a massive, gym-shaking kill to extend Paris’ lead to 18-14.
The turning point
The visitors managed to tie the score at 4-0 to tie the set at 19-19, but Paris closed the set on a 5-1 run. It seemed like more dominance was coming as Paris led most of the first half of the second set. However, the Lady Hawks stormed back to take a 13-11 lead, partly thanks to Paris miscues. The Lady Hawks momentum continued to surge, but Paris managed to trim the deficit to 18-16. Despite the solid closing effort, Pleasant Grove finished off Paris in the second set with a 7-3 scoring run.
The pivotal third set was tight throughout. The teams were deadlocked at 9-all when Hill and senior middle Hannah Gibbons recorded kills to give Paris an 11-9 lead. Even though PG took the lead back a few points later, Paris fought back. A kill from junior middle Presli Chapman and an ace from McAmis helped Paris tie the score at 15-15.
Pleasant Grove used another short spurt to gain a 19-16 lead, but Paris scored four of the next six points. With that, Paris cut the deficit to 21-20 and the Lady Hawks called a timeout. Paris scored again to tie the set at 21-all, but PG caught fire with a momentous 4-0 run. The visitors capped off the run with two powerful aces as the Lady Hawks led 2-1 in sets. Pleasant Grove controlled and won the fourth set by nine points to help the Lady Hawks topple Paris.
District implications
Game statistics were not available. Paris now slips to 2-3 in district play while Pleasant Grove elevates to 4-1.
Up next
The Lady ’Cats will try to get back in the win column at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Gilmer. For more sports coverage, click here.
