James Albritton/The Community News: Senior Brittany Winkelblech stalks the net during Friday night's Ladycat win over Azle.

By Tony Eierdam

Although the Azle Lady Hornets put up a fight in the third game of the best-of-five District 6-4A volleyball match with the Aledo Ladycats, they still could not avoid the sweep Friday afternoon at the Aledo High School gym.

State-ranked No. 10 Aledo defeated Azle 25-17 in the opener, and followed with a 25-16 win in game two.
Despite falling behind 20-9 in game three, the Ladycats rallied by scoring 19 of the next 25 points to win the contest, 28-26, and clinch the match.

The win, which completed a district sweep of Azle, lifts the Ladycats to 29-6 overall and 9-0 in 6-4A action. The loss drops the Lady Hornets to 3-6 in league play.

The Ladycats will travel to Birdville on Tuesday, Oct. 14, in a key district match. The JV match will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity contest.

The Ladycats front-row senior trio of Allie Betinger, Blaire Fowler and Abby Tomas combined for 26 kills in the match. Bettinger and Fowler each recorded nine kills, with Tomas adding eight.

Fowler led all hitters with five blocks, with Tomas recording three and sophomore hitter Jordan Jacobs two. Jacobs also contributed seven kills. Junior Tara Gough led all setters with 34 assists.

At the service line, Bettinger recorded three aces to lead the team. She also had a team-leading 14 digs.

In other action, the Ladycats junior varsity ran its overall mark to 19-4 and kept its district record spotless at 9-0 with a 25-17, 25-17 win over Azle following the varsity match.