Several times Tuesday night, the White Hall volleyball team found itself in trouble.
The Lady Bulldogs had an answer every time and fought back to defeat Texarkana 3-2 in a five-set thriller at home. White Hall won 20-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-21, 15-13.
White Hall (6-8, 4-8 in 5A-South) senior Journey Peppers led with 19 kills, followed by senior Tam Gooseberry with 11. Texarkana hitter Kendra Jones led the Razorbacks with 17 kills, while Addison Girley had 13.
Texarkana (14-8, 4-8) won the first meeting between these teams at Arkansas High School, also in five sets. The Razorbacks looked set to do so again when they opened the fifth set on a 5-1 run, forcing White Hall to take a timeout. Texarkana went on to lead by as much as 7-2.
White Hall coach Madison Back said after the timeout, the Lady Bulldogs decided they wanted to fight.
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“That was our conversation in that timeout that I called when we were down,” Back said. “‘If you guys want it, you’ve got to go fight for it. They’re not going to give it to you, so go earn it.’ And they did.”
The Lady Bulldogs fought back like they had all night. They briefly tied the fifth set at 9 before Texarkana retook the lead, but Peppers tied the set with a kill, starting a 3-0 run which put White Hall in front for the first time in the set.
Texarkana responded with its own 3-0 run, but Peppers tied the set again with a kill and teamed up with sophomore Maliyah Hunt for a block to make it 14-13. Sophomore hitter Addie Cole served match point, and a Texarkana mishit clinched the match for White Hall.
Peppers said the Lady Bulldogs’ chemistry helped them respond whenever Texarkana seemed to take control.
“We can see when our teammates are down,” Peppers said. “I think it really helps us when we talk to each other, we encourage each other. I think that keeps us out of our heads and ready to go and fight back.”
Texarkana opened the match by taking a commanding 10-4 lead in the first set, but the Lady Bulldogs showed they wouldn’t be defeated easily by fighting back to tie the set at 18, and again at 20. However, the Razorbacks went on a 5-0 run to win the first set.
White Hall kept its momentum going early in the second, leading 5-2. This time, Texarkana fought back and eventually led 17-15. White Hall answered with a 7-1 run to lead 22-18. The Razorbacks managed to tie it, but Peppers eventually won it with her ninth kill to tie the match at one set each.
The Razorbacks dominated the third and finished on an 8-1 run, setting themselves up to need just one more set to clinch the match. The led 5-2 early in the fourth, but White Hall fought back once again.
After a long stretch where the teams traded points, the Lady Bulldogs took control with a 6-0 run to lead 24-20. A Jones kill fought off one set point, but Peppers answered to send the match to the fifth, where the Lady Bulldogs finally triumphed.