The Lady Bulldogs improved to 2-0 in District 2-6A play on Tuesday night with a 25-20, 25-17, 25-13 sweep of Odessa High at the MHS gym.
MHS (20-14, 2-0) has yet to drop a set in District 2-6A play, which is the polar opposite of its start to league play in 2023 when it started 0-5.
The Lady Bulldogs will meet crosstown rival Legacy (26-14, 2-0) in a showdown of 2-0 District 2-6A teams at 5 p.m. Friday at Chaparral Center.
In Tuesday’s match against OHS, Ava Wilson led MHS with 10 kills, Lillian Earl had a double-double with 10 digs and 23 assists, Mabry Scharbauer tallied 19 digs, Zaylie King had 13 assists and Victoria Azarov notched four aces.
“I knew when it came to district, they were going to turn it on a little more,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Audra Howard said. “Like I said before, we were just excited to get district going and especially being on our homecourt. It gives them an extra boost. They just feel the crowd. They come out and they take care of business when they’re supposed to.
“They got better and better every set. I have to remind them constantly that they’re going to play back, so we’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to keep playing. Thankfully, the girls stepped it up. They’re playing good and hard right now.”
The Lady Bronchos (17-12, 0-2), who took Legacy to five sets last Friday, looked poised early on to battle MHS as senior standout Clarissa Rodriguez had three consecutive kills to narrow Odessa’s deficit to 23-20 in the first set.
But the Lady Dawgs’ play got stronger in the second and third sets.
MHS turned the match’s momentum in the second set during a 7-0 run with Wilson providing three kills and Azarov serving six consecutive points including two aces during the string of points. MHS led 17-9 after the 7-0 run.
“I think we’ve fully progressed, you can see that with the score,” Earl said. “We started to finally make a gap in each set. I feel like we started running faster plays and we started getting a faster offense and just being there for defense. I feel like it all comes together when everybody is putting in 100% effort and we have all have grit and resilience on the court. Yes, I feel like it was a good match.”
The Lady Dawgs closed out the third set on a dominant 6-1 run with King getting an ace for match point.
MHS took care of business on its homecourt by sweeping two home matches to start district against Odessa Permian and Odessa High.
“We just got our locker room redone and on one of the walls, it says protect this house,” Howard said. “Obviously, they see that every day, so they know when they have a home game, no one should beat us at our home. That’s the mentality we have every day and hopefully that’s the mentality that we keep, and we don’t start slacking.”
Andy Ham and Wilson each led MHS with three blocks, Madison Boehler had eight kills, Azarov tallied seven kills, and Emi Davenport and King each provided eight digs.
MHS DEF. ODESSA HIGH 25-20, 25-17, 25-13
Midland High statistics
Kills – Ava Wilson 10, Madison Boehler 8, Victoria Azarov 7, Lillian Earl 6, Andy Ham 5, Karlie Gist 3, Emi Davenport 1
Digs – Mabry Scharbauer 19, Earl 10, Davenport 8, Zaylie King 8, Gi... Click here to read full article
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