Lady Panthers wrap memorable season
Anahuac’s Cyann Cook reaches out to save this play last Tuesday night against the Diboll Lady Jacks in bi-district action.
Meg Kreuzer reaches high slapping the ball over the net for a point against Diboll.
CONROE – The Lady Panthers offered plenty of excitement under first-year Head Coach Kristen Hart, playing to the wire for the district title and going out in the opening round of the playoffs in a memorable affair.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, AHS played their last match of the season against Diboll High School in the 3A Division 1, Region III Bi-District playoffs. Anahuac ended their season at 9-3 in district play, second to Hardin. They were 27-18 overall.
“The girls definitely came out to win, but unfortunately, it didn’t turn out in our favor. I am very proud of the girls and the fantastic season they had,” said Hart.
The match was fast and exciting, with good blocks and kills on both sides of the net. The first noticeable difference between the teams was size. The Lady Panthers are lean and tall at the net. The Diboll Lady Lumberjacks look tall, too, but large and solid. Hits and blocks came fast and hard for both teams.
The second noticeable difference was the ability to dig the ball. Diboll’s libero and back row consistently picked up hits.
The final game score was 3-2 Diboll. Anahuac took the first two sets 25-22, Diboll won set three 25-20, four 25-23, and five 15-8.
The scores tell the tale of a match of close play, close skill and exciting, many times long rallies.
Several times, Diboll fans would be on their feet celebrating what they thought was a kill, only to see the ball still in play on the Anahuac side and come back as a point for the Lady Panthers.
The big hitters for Anahuac, Meg Kreuzer, Ashton Rose, Maylee Willcox and Cyann Cook, had 21 kills in the five sets. Abby Foster, the setter, contributed two kills.
Big blocks impacted the score and the Panthers’ blockers Kreuzer, Foster and Maddison Willis stopped 11 hits at the net, with Kreuzer taking seven of those blocks. Digs totaled 42. Rose led digs with 15, Callie Henike, Willcox, Gabby Palacious, Foster, Cook, and Kreuzer sharing the remainder.
In an amazing passing game, Kreuzer and Henike had no dig errors. Foster had 17 kill assists, with Cook and Palacious adding one assist each. Cook led in serve receive with 21.
A look at season stats shows the team played 116 sets. Kreuzer, with only 113 sets played, led with 200 kills and 104 total blocks. In 116 sets, Foster had 82 aces and 570 assists. Rose had 160 digs and 141 kills. With only 109 sets played junior Callie Henike had 191 serves received.
According to Maxpreps, Foster finished the season at number 38 in the top 100 players in Region III for aces served and Kreuzer finished at 31 in the top 100 players in region for blocks.
Students, parents and grandparents faithfully came out to support the Lady Panthers. Their unanimous sentiment is, “We are sad the season is over, especially for the seniors, but it was the best year we have had in a while. The players excelled and the competition was exciting. Winning the YMBL tournament showed our girls what they can do and what it feels like to be the winners.”
Get ready, volleyball fans. We only have 10 months to wait for the 2025 Lady Panther volleyball.