WEATHERFORD – For the past two years, Decatur has been Glen Rose’s nemesis on the volleyball court – knocking out the Tigers in the second round during the 2021 season and then in last year’s regional quarterfinals.
Both times the Eagles won in straight sets.
Meeting for the third consecutive time in the postseason, Glen Rose turned the tables on the 5-time state champs. The Tigers eliminated the Eagles 25-21, 16-25, 25-21, 25-21 in a Class 4A Region 1 quarterfinal at Weatherford’s Ninth Grade Center.
Glen Rose (27-18) advances to the regional tournament for the first time since 2018.
The Tigers will play Canyon High or Canyon Randall in the regional semifinals on Friday. The regional final is Saturday. The regional games will be held at Wolfforth Frenship HS in Lubbock.
Decatur ends the season 22-17 and #1 in the area rankings.
Glen Rose senior middle Grace Booth made her presence felt up front in the opening set with three points off the block. Kills by Aimee Flippen and Alex Arrington helped push the Tigers lead to 11-7.
After Decatur pulled within 14-12, Glen Rose scored three in a row to take a 17-12 lead and forced a timeout. The lead grew to 19-12 on two more blocks by Booth. One more from Booth and one from Ava Sehnert made it 22-16. The Tigers called a timeout when the Eagles pulled within 22-18.
A hitting error by Decatur on set point sent Glen Rose to a 1-0 lead.
Decatur, which captured an undefeated district championship for the fourth straight season, bounced back in the second set. West Texas A&M commit Gracie Trulson sparked the Eagles to early 2-0 and 6-3 leads.
Blocks by Haylie Huggins, Allie Watkins and Peyton Dickson pushed the lead to 11-6 and 14-8.
Kills from Lara Hornsby and Lilly Lowery and Decatur was rolling at 19-11.
Huggins scored a kill on set point to help the Eagles even the match.
Flippen scored a kill and Booth had her fourth block point as the Tigers took the early edge in the third. The Tigers extended their lead to 10-6 on blocks by Booth and Avery Gray. Trulson and Hornsby smashed down attempts and Decatur pulled even at 14-14 and 16-16.
Arrington went off the block and GR led 20-18. Flippen scored to make it 24-21 and Decatur couldn’t cleanly dig an attempt from Gray to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the match.
Prestyn Winslow went back to back in the fourth set and GR led 8-4.
After trailing 10-5 and calling a timeout, the Eagles came back to the court and rallied off four straight points to pull within one. Sehnert scored a kill and another block by the Tigers made it 16-10. Arrington hit from back row for an 18-12 edge. Decatur scored three straight to make it 18-15.
The Eagles stormed back with an 8-2 run and tied it at 20.
But Arrington had two kills and Decatur had a hitting error to send Glen Rose to the 3-1 victory.
Gray will take part of Wednesday’s signing day with Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Flippen and Booth will also sign, but with basketball for Abilene Christian and East Central, respectively.
