The final 40 minutes resembled the kind of war these two teams put on at this same juncture a year ago.
Ultimately, the result was the same as the tradition-rich Lady Cougars outlasted the Lady Eagles 25-18, 25-15, 28-30, 25-21 in a Class 2A Region II quarterfinal at Rocket Gym.
Leon, at 34-5 and ranked No. 7, advanced to the Region II tournament this weekend in Garland in an effort to reach the UIL state tournament for the 22nd time. The youthful Lady Eagles, ranked No. 12, closed their season at 25-10.
“We left a few bones on the floor,” said Rogers coach Pam Lomas, who saw her team come back from a seven-point deficit in the third game and fight off three match points before extending it to a fourth. “It was just a matter of leaving it all out there. We didn’t want to lose because of our mistakes.”
After winning the first two games, the Lady Cougars appeared to be on their way to making it a clean sweep. They reeled off the first seven points of the third game and went on to an 11-4 lead.
But Dana Schaffner put down a Brittany Luna set and then served for the next five points with a block and kill from freshman Cayleigh Drake to move within one.
The two teams essentially traded sideouts, with Leon maintaining a narrow advantage. The Lady Cougars kept that up until match point at 24-22. Rogers didn’t draw even until it got back-to-back kills from Schaffner to extend the game to extra points.
Leon fought off three game points before going back on top 28-27. But the Lady Cougars faltered on three straight points for a Rogers win.
There was very little separation through most of the fourth game, with seven ties and the lead changing hands five times.
Rogers overtook the Lady Cougars one final time at 20-19 with three straight points, two coming on Schaffner kills.
“They just did a great job of getting to balls to get us back in it,” Lomas said.
However, the magnet that annually pulls the Lady Cougars into the regional tournament became too great as they scored six of the last seven points with a couple of kills by Laci Harris and a final scoring dink by Courtney Perry.
Schaffner, a sophomore, was dominant on the front line with 12 kills and seven blocks to pace the Lady Eagles. Drake put down 14 spikes, and junior Nancy Macha had eight kills and 14 digs. Nicholyn Carter-Maddux paced Rogers with 18 digs and Kelsey Hudson had 17 assists.
Senior Nikki West rang up 22 kills to lead the Lady Cougar power attack.
With only one senior on the squad, there weren’t many signs of disappointment from a Lady Eagle team that won the District 16-2A title and reached the same stage as its more seasoned predecessors.
“We’re excited about it,” Lomas said. “Nobody expected us to be here. We had four girls returning and everybody stepped up."
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