Lady Apaches refuse to fold

When it was over, well-wishers had to wait a moment while Gonzales head volleyball coach Kim Payne brushed a tear from her eyes, bent over and let the emotion leech out.
“They’re learning how to fight and keep momentum on their side,” Payne said of her squad. “They’re still very streaky. But this was pretty emotional, yeah.”
The Lady Apaches faced match point in the fourth game before coming back to win it, then held off a Smithville rally in the fifth game Tuesday to take a roller-coaster 17-25, 25-22, 19-25, 29-27, 15-13 win over the Lady Tigers in non-district action.
It was a back-and-forth, nip-and-tuck battle from start to finish in each of the five games between the evenly-matched teams — an “evenly-matched” that included both teams wearing very similar black-and-orange uniforms.
Smithville pulled away from Gonzales late in the first game to take a 25-17 win, then the Lady Apaches came from behind in the second as Marlena Hunt took charge at the net with three blocks and a trio of kills. Gonzales reached game point at 24-20 before Smithville rallied, but a net serve helped Gonzales close it out.
The Lady Tigers ran off the first seven points of the third game, and although Gonzales closed the gap late behind some double-team work up front from Allison Raley and Shayla Simper, a Smithville service ace and mis-hit by the Lady Apaches finished up the 25-19 win.
Smithville spotted Gonzales an early lead in the fourth game, then roared back to take the lead before a kill by Brittany Pakebusch tied it again at 17.
Hunt had a couple of blocks, but the Lady Tigers found the formula for beating the Lady Apaches’ superior net play by dinking points over the blockers, and eventually reached match point at 24-20.
The Lady Apaches refused to buckle, however. Raley dinked home one point, then added a kill to make it 24-22. After Smithville flubbed a return, Shayla Simper tied the game at 24 with a cross-court kill.
The Lady Tigers again reached match point by killing the next point, but Simper again responded with a kill and Whitney Stefinsky slammed home the go-ahead point to give Gonzales a 26-25 lead.
Smithville rallied again and reached match point at 27-26, but Stefinsky used the soft touch off a set from Jessica Cantu to tie the game again, then slammed home a deep hit to put Gonzales out front before the Lady Tigers mishandled a Raley service to close out the game, 28-26.
The final game went back and forth, with an early 5-2 Smithville lead the widest margin of the ganme. Gonzales tied it at 12 when Simper rolled a backwards hit over the net.
The Lady Tigers were called for touching the net to give Gonzales a 13-12 lead, then Raley brought the Lady Apaches to match point by blocking a Smithville spike. A Stefinsky kill went long to give Smithville a brief reprieve before the Lady Tigers mishandled a set and Gonzales closed the match 15-13.
“We still have a very young team,” Payne noted. “Confidence is coming with experience.”
In undersquad action, Smithville’s freshman team came back to take a 13-25, 25-16, 25-14 win over Gonzales while the lady Apache JV dropped a 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 decision.