BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
CARROLLTON – Anna Flores, Carley Wright and a stellar defensive effort pushed Keller past Plano East 25-15, 26-24, 25-21 during their Class 6A Division 1 regional semifinal contest on Monday night at Hebron High School.
The Indians are headed to the Region 1 championship for the third time in the past four years to take on Allen, which defeated El Paso Eastlake on Tuesday. Plano East, which finished the regular season as runner-up in District 6-6A, had reached the third round for the second consecutive season. Last year’s appearance was the program’s first since 2008.
The two squads went neck and neck in the opening set.
Keller had a hot start with the first four points, but East answered it with the next four highlighted by a solo block from Grace Pinegar. The game was tied at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before Keller got out to a 10-6 edge off the kill by Wright, a senior outside hitter for the Indians.
Wright was a part of the 2022 team that went to the state tournament in Garland.
Another kill by Wright and one from Flores pushed the Keller lead to 15-10 that forced a timeout by the Panthers. The Indians continued to pull away with two blocks and an error on East.
Keller’s Kendall Hill got a block early in the second set to help the Indians to a good start.
Grace McDonald hit the corner that helped East pull within one at 7-6. Another kill from Hill and Keller was answered with a spurt by the Panthers capped by a kill from the back line for Georgia Tech commit Simone Heard.
The Panthers got out to a 12-11 advantage, but again Keller came back and started to pull away.
Four straight by the Indians got them to a 19-16 lead and East had to call time.
Heard posted another kill from back line to pull within 23-21 and the Panthers were able to rally and tie it at 24-all. But Keller scored following a long rally and Sophee Dean finished it off to give the Indians a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
Flores set up Wright three times to start the third and Keller got out to a 8-4 edge.
Flores, a junior setter who’s committed to Cal, was also on that 2022 state tourney team as a freshman.
Maddie Winkler and Lauren Scheiden picked up the digs during another rally and Hill scored on the kill to extend the Keller lead to 17-11. East was able to hang around for a bit before it got a hitting error on match point to send the Indians to the regional final.
