CHICKASHA —
The Chickasha High School volleyball team got to the finals of the "Purple Bracket" before losing to Lawton Eisenhower in a close match at the Chickasha Tournament on Saturday.
Chickasha went 2-3 overall in the tournament, and the Lady Chicks' record after the tournament was 5-13.
Pool play started with Chickasha facing the No. 1 team in class 4A, the Elgin Lady Owls. Elgin won easily, 25-9 and 25-4.
"[Our players] didn't even know it was the top team in 4A," head coach Nancy Waters said. "I didn't tell them. To them, it was just Elgin. They've played Elgin in summer league, so it wasn't any different than playing anyone else. Elgin is just that good."
Next up was Tecumseh, which also beat Chickasha in two games. In the first game, Chickasha got down 9-20, and although the Lady Chicks rallied, they fell well short and lost 14-25.
After gaining an early 7-2 lead in game two, Chickasha gave up the lead and lost 19-25.
"We came out against Tecumseh and played flat," Waters said. "I can't explain why we do that, but we just played flat. The coach from Tecumseh actually said 'We didn't beat you. You beat yourself.'"
In the final pool play game, Chickasha got its first win of the tournament over Snyder, 25-19 and 25-12. The Lady Chicks jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first game and cruised to the finish.
Snyder hung around in the second game, but ultimately didn't have enough to pull out a win.
The tournament consisted of two pools. Pool A members were Chickasha, Elgin, Snyder and Tecumseh and Pool B included Lawton Eisenhower, Southeast, Deer Creek and Capitol Hill.
The top two teams from each pool following pool play advanced to the Gold Bracket, and the bottom two teams went to the Purple Bracket.
Chickasha played Capitol Hill in the first game of bracket play, and had very little trouble, winning 25-12 and 25-11.
Lawton Eisenhower came out in the game against Chickasha looking a bit lackadaisical, and Chickasha took advantage and rode the momentum from two straight match wins to take game one 27-25.
"In the first game against Lawton Ike, we looked good," Waters said. "I mean, we really looked good. We were passing well, setting well and hitting well. But then we left the second game."
Newly refocused after the loss, Eisenhower won game two 25-10, setting up their powerful hitters well throughout the game.
The deciding third game was close, but Chickasha fell 11-15 to end the tournament.
"We played well in the third game, but we had given them momentum," Waters said. "We had given them life, and we just couldn't take that away from them."
Chickasha played Community Christian at home Monday night, and will host Shawnee tonight beginning at 4:30 p.m.
