SEGUIN — After dropping a marathon opening set, 29-27, Seguin steadily took control Tuesday night, defeating Long Creek in four sets.
The Lady Matadors responded with a six-point win in the second set, followed by a seven-point victory in the third and a nine-point win in the fourth. For coach Ashley Farris, the increasingly comfortable margins showed a team getting stronger as the match progressed.
“What I was impressed with was the fact that we stayed — we got better as it went on,” Farris said.
That improvement began defensively.
After struggling at times this season with defense and first-contact serve receive, Seguin became increasingly scrappy against a Long Creek team Farris described as young but dangerous because of its size at the net.
“We’ve been working defense a lot,” Farris said. “It’s been a very big point of emphasis in practice lately, and I thought we did a really good job of putting it into action tonight.”
Seguin finished with 76 digs. Elli Anderson led the way with 16, while Danica Rushlow had 15 and Britlyn Walls added 13. Kiersten Walls contributed six as the Lady Matadors extended rallies and created opportunities to transition back to the attack.
“I thought we were quite scrappier defensively in that fourth set than we did the first three,” Farris said. “So that impressed me.”
Savannah Oaks also helped strengthen Seguin’s defense at the net. The 6-foot sophomore middle blocker finished with a team-high four blocks against Long Creek’s bigger hitters.
“That girl is a wall for us,” Farris said. “And not only that, just her energy. She’s super aggressive.”
Oaks’ development has been especially rewarding for Farris, who has watched her grow from her middle school years into an increasingly important part of Seguin’s varsity lineup.
“I’ve always told her she’s going to be a D1 star, and she’s finally believing in it,” Farris said. “It’s just super exciting to see her grow every single day.”
Seguin also found consistent production across its offense. The Lady Matadors finished with 54 kills on 140 attacks while hitting .236 as a team, with four players reaching double figures.
Morgan Edwards led Seguin with 14 kills, Anderson added 13 and Rebeka Wilke finished with 12. Annyn Houston had six, while Britlyn Walls and Oaks each added four.
Wilke was particularly efficient, recording 12 kills on 26 swings with just two errors for a .385 hitting percentage. Anderson paired her 13 kills with a team-high 16 digs, while Walls kept the offense moving with 37 assists. She also served three of Seguin’s six aces and added 13 digs.
Edwards, Anderson and Wilke combined for 39 of Seguin’s 54 kills, giving the Lady Matadors enough balance to avoid relying on one attacker.
The victory followed Friday’s five-set road win over Veterans Memorial and came in front of a large home crowd on Future Matador Night. After proving they could recover on the road, the Lady Matadors faced another test Tuesday: responding at home after losing the opening set.
They did so by winning each of the next three sets by a larger margin.
Now Seguin turns its attention to Lockhart, which visits Friday with the Lady Matadors trying to remain in the district playoff race.
“This is a big week for us,” Farris said. “We want to stay in the playoff contention. We have to get these wins.”
Farris said Seguin will use the next two practices to study Lockhart, identify its strengths and find areas to attack.
“Just preparing for them, not looking past them at all,” Farris said. “We just want to get prepared for Lockhart.”
Other Area Scores:
Navarro 3, Randolph 0
25-16, 25-12, 25-11