The Paris News

It didn’t come easy, but the Paris Junior College Lady Dragons earned a victory they desperately needed.

They edged the Seminole Lady Trojans by scores of 26-24, 13-25, 18-25, 25-16, 15-11 in a non-conference match Wednesday at the Hunt Center.

It was the first win for PJC (21-12) since a non-conference match against North Lake Community College on Oct. 10.

In addition to that, the Lady Dragons had played three consecutive matches without winning a single game.

That changed with Wednesday’s win over Seminole (20-15), which is atop its conference and received votes in the latest NJCAA national poll.

So just how important was it to nab this win?

“Big, big, big,” PJC head coach Justin Maness said. “It was a boost of confidence.”

The Lady Dragons now await the decision of tonight’s Blinn College/Tyler Junior College match. If Blinn defeats Tyler, then PJC (2-6 conference record) will secure entry into the Region XIV Tournament, which is scheduled to be played Nov. 6 at the Hunt Center.

Wednesday’s triumph over Seminole gives the Lady Dragons some momentum and should help them if they do earn a berth in the conference tournament.

They began the match by racing to a 6-1 advantage after a kill by Codi Schepp. They maintained the lead and expanded it to 19-12 later in the game. Seminole then earned 13 of the next 14 points to close the gap before PJC ultimately finished it with a crafty kill by Adrienne Boswell.

“I really thought we came out and played better than we have the past few matches,” Maness said. “We kind of found our footing in a lot of areas and came out aggressive, which I wanted to see. We were playing a Seminole team that has received votes for a top ranking in the nation and a Seminole team that was No. 1 in their conference, so it was good to beat a team like that.”

The Lady Trojans went on to claim early leads in Game 2 and Game 3 and latched onto the lead for the majority of both.

The Lady Dragons did the same during Game 4 by taking an early lead and hanging onto it. They closed the match by taking a 4-3 lead after a block by Logan Anglin, and they kept it for the remainder of the match.

Codi Schepp was a top player for PJC, as she had a team-high 13 kills and five blocks with only one attacking error.

“She really hit the ball with a lot of passion tonight,” Maness said. “She hit around the block and if she thought she was going to get blocked, she was swinging to get through the block. …She found the corners and she played really aggressive at the net.”

Hillary Baugh had 10 kills and Anglin had seven kills. Amy Gunter had 25 digs. Boswell had 19 assists and Beau Beamish had 13 assists.

There was a brief ceremony for sophomores Baugh, Anglin, Boswell, Tess Williams, Mallory Johnson and Morganne Fikes prior to the match in honor of their final regular season match at the Hunt Center.

Share | Save | Mail | Print | Letter

Serving Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma

A Southern Newspapers publication.