Van Alstyne 25, Tom Bean 13

Van Alstyne 25, Tom Bean 14

Van Alstyne 25, Tom Bean 9

By Jack Walker

Staff Writer

Just like the cool front that rolled through southern Grayson County earlier in the evening the Van Alstyne Lady Panthers stormed through Tom Bean, sweeping the Lady Cats 3-0 for their second road win of the season.

The visitors were able to neutralize Tom Beans only offensive threat, Sarah Hagen and with that accomplished the Lady Cats were totally out gunned in the match.

After Sam Hutchison had opened the first set with a kill to the right corner, Hunter Offill held serve for four straight points as Van Alstyne got off to a positive start. A kill by Jenny Pickett and Hutchison's push shot that found the floor bumped the lead to 11-3 and forced a Lady Cat timeout.

The Lady Panthers went on a 7-1 run keyed by a pair of Madeline Carroll aces and quickly the score climbed to 22-12 before another halt was called by the Lady Cats.

No good strategy came out of that break and Offill ended it with an ace that crawled over the net for the 12-point win.

Tom Bean put together a brief offensive flurry midway through the second set and got within four before Van Alstyne turned up the offense to pull away. Leslie Zielinski pounded in a pair of aces surrounded by two Tom Bean misplays and a kill by Rachel Perkins gave Van Alstyne the 25-14 win.

Carroll had three aces around a Hutchison kill the get VA off to a 4-0 start in the third set and the Lady Cats were going through the motions for the remainder of the contest. With a lead of four, Pickett went to the service line and wore out her welcome and the Lady Cat defense. When she finally surrendered the ball that lead had ballooned to 14 and dinner plans were being made.

An ace by Carroll closed out the 25-9 win for the visitors.

Van Alstyne JV 25, Tom Bean 12

Van Alstyne JV 25, Tom Bean 12

The Lady Panther JV wasted little time in disposing of the Lady Cats in the tune up act, posting 13-point wins in both sets of the match.

Sydney Sprowl had three kills, one a cross-court smoker to the left corner, and Erica Lowing had a pair of aces to get the visitors off to a hot start in the first. Another Sprowl kill stopped a 4-0 Tom Bean run and Bailey Saxton's ace keyed the big finish by the Lady Panthers.

The second set opened with a nice save by Lowing that led to a Madi Roddy kill and the Lady Panthers were off to the races. Sprowl sent in two more winners that had some steam on them and when that smoke cleared it was 20-9 VA.

Aces by Saxton and Roddy helped finish off the Lady Cats to get the sweep.