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A&M Consolidated notches bi-district volleyball victory against Lindale

By Ryan Posner, 11/01/16, 6:45PM CDT

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CROCKETT — A&M Consolidated volleyball uncharacteristically missed out on a postseason trip last season. Knocking off any rust wouldn’t be an issue for the Lady Tigers in their return to the playoffs in a bi-district match against Lindale.

The Lady Tigers swept Lindale on Monday night at Crockett 25-16, 25-22, 25-23 to move on to the area round of the UIL playoffs. Consol set the tone with a 12-4 run to finish out the first set and rode that momentum to capture the sweep.

“We’ve been working really hard for these last four days, getting after it,” Consol coach Jennifer Kazmierski said. “It was a lot about our mentality and what our expectations were. That’s always how we look how to come out and play.”

Junior outside hitter McKenzie Dimery certainly set the mentality with an ace on the first serve of the game and led the Lady Tigers with five. She also led the team with 11 kills, routinely sending Lindale to the hardwood trying to dig out her spikes.

No kill may have been bigger than her spike toward the center of the court that bounced at the feet of Lindale’s libero to secure the sweep.

“I think that was honestly the best game I’ve played all year,” Dimery said. “I feel great with where we are at moving forward. All around we played solid.”

“The coolest thing to see is that [Dimery] is playing with so much confidence,” Kazmierski said. “You would see her play that same type of way in practice.”

Consol looked to be on its way to another comfortable victory in its second set, jumping to a 9-3 lead, helped by sophomore setter Emily Edwards’ two blocks. Senior middle blocker Camryn Garner led the Lady Tigers with three blocks.

Leading 21-13, Consol suffered through some communication errors and slowly watched its lead chipped away with an 8-2 run by Lindale. But a kill from middle hitter Riley Daniels sealed the second set, as the Lady Tigers staved off the comeback.

Kazmierski credited the play of Daniels, whose 10 kills were tied for second-most on the team with senior Madie Welch, and Garner for providing some offense in the middle.

“It was great to see them be apart of what we do like that,” Kazmierski said. “We were making some errors on our side at points but we were great when we needed to be.”

Consol jumped out to another decent lead in the third set at 15-10. But some communication errors again closed the gap, as Lindale cut Consol’s lead to 21-20. After a timeout from the Lady Tigers, a kill from Daniels helped spark a 4-2 run to close out the game, with Dimery’s kill putting the finishing touches on the win.

Senior libero Autumn Foust was crucial in keeping the rallies alive late in the third set, picking up three of her team-leading 18 digs in the final six-point stretch.

“Obviously, the errors kept it close, with the communications issues now-and-then,” Kazmierski said. “We’ll clean that up and get ready to go later this week.”

The Lady Tigers await the results of Tuesday’s bi-district match between Tomball and Cedar Creek to see who they will play later this week. They didn’t play Cedar Creek this season, but split their two matchups with Tomball.

“They’re both great teams. Obviously, we know Tomball a little better,” Kazmierski said. “We got a great start, though, with the sweep. We just have to work off that.”