For Guyer, six years must have seemed like an eternity.
In 2008, the Lady Wildcats were practically untouchable en route to their last outright district title. While they had made the playoffs multiple times and were close to winning a district crown in recent years, they were always a win or two shy. That all ended Tuesday.
Guyer erupted after a mistake-filled first set to beat Justin Northwest 22-25, 25-21, 25-8, 25-15 in the regular-season finale. The win clinched the District 5-6A title for the Lady Wildcats, who closed out the season having won 17 of their last 18 matches. It is the program’s first postseason appearance in the state’s largest classification after missing the playoffs in 2010 and 2011 in Class 5A.
“These girls earned this title,” said Guyer coach Addie Mack, who is in her fourth season. “It’s great to top this part of the season off in this way, and now it’s time to reset and refocus on what we want post-district.”
Guyer (35-5, 13-1 district) will face Plano next week in the first round. As of press time, no time or date was set.
Guyer had a chance to clinch the district title Friday at Trophy Club Nelson but lost in four sets. Had the Lady Wildcats lost to Northwest on Tuesday, they would have been tied with Nelson atop the standings.
“We knew if we lost this one there would be no district title,” junior Emily Hill said. “I realized pretty quick that they [Northwest] were playing better than the last time we faced them, and we’d better turn it up.”
Hill answered with a team-high 23 kills. She added 14 digs while teammate Mallory McKnight chipped in with nine kills and two digs. Miles Baker added 23 assists and four digs.
Northwest (17-23, 5-9) took advantage of Guyer miscues to win the opening set. Trailing by three, the Lady Texans rattled off a 10-4 run, including nine straight points off errors, and carried that momentum into the second set.
With her team behind 16-13 in set two, Mack called a timeout and could be heard over the raucous crowd telling the Lady Wildcats they were better than how they were playing. Guyer answered with a 10-2 run for a 23-18 lead. After a brief run by Northwest, Hill notched a kill and Tabitha Spray followed with a service ace for the win.
After that, the Northwest attack lost most of its luster. Guyer extended a two-point lead in the third set with a 13-2 run, with several of those points coming off Lady Texan errors. Mikayla Yates scored three straight aces as part of the run to hand Guyer a 19-6 lead. With her team leading by 12 a few minutes later, Hill knocked down three more kills as part of a 5-0 run.
Guyer closed out the match with a 6-1 run in the fourth set.
“We were a little unfocused coming in, but the girls did a great job of gathering themselves,” Mack said.
STEVE GAMEL can be reached at 940-566-6869 or via Twitter at @NewspaperSteve.
