Published: October 07, 2008 10:23 pm      

Wortham rallies for key win

Trailing 2 sets to 1, Libhart leads team past 14-1A rival Dawson

DAWSON — Both the Wortham Lady Bulldogs and Dawson Lady Bulldogs came into Tuesday’s match looking to improve on their identical 2-2 District 14-1A records.

After a back-and-forth duel, Wortham was the on to come out on top, winning 3-2 (21-25, 25-14, 19-25, 25-20, 15-11) at Bulldog Gymnasium in Dawson.

“This was a very important win for our girls,” Wortham coach Angela Gillen said. “We knew that Dawson was a good team and that we were in for a tough match.”

Wortham (11-9, 3-2) jumped out to an early lead in Game 1, but quickly saw that slip away as Dawson took over.

Dawson (9-8, 2-3) went ahead 18-10 with the help of three Crystal Coleman kills, but Wortham was able to work its way back.

Wortham drew to within two points before Dawson sealed the game 25-21.

In Game 2 Wortham again started off with a big lead — this time they held on to it.

With five kills and two service aces from Lauren Libhart, Wortham rolled their way to a 25-14 win.

Libhart finished the night with a team-high 17 kills.

“This was one of the better games I have seen Lauren have so far,” Gillen said. “Kara Jantzen, Cara Wempee and Amber Reece picked things up for us and served well for us there at the end.”

Jantzen and Wempee each added seven kills and an ace in the match while Reece finished with four kills.

It was Dawson in Game 3 that went to work early with pin-point serving by Taylor Medrano as Dawson went ahead 8-4.

Wempee and Libhart kept Wortham in the game, but Dawson’s Alicia Simmons delivered the exclamation point with a strong game-winning kill to take Game 3 25-19.

Dawson looked to be on its way to a win in Game 4 before an onslaught of offense by Wortham put them in front 22-19. Dawson was unable to rally back with Wortham tying the match with a 25-20 win.

“I have to give credit to my seniors in the fourth game,” Gillen said. “They are the ones that helped us turn the game around.”

Wortham kept up the momentum throughout Game 5 for a 15-11 victory.