Coming off a three-set loss at Crosby on Friday, Nederland’s volleyball team was ready to take out any frustration on Port Neches-Groves.

Four weeks before District 21-5A play starts, the Bulldogs handed third-year head coach Allie Crommett her first victory over the archrival Rock-A-Noos in the Bronze bracket of the Dickinson tournament. Nederland swept 25-9, 25-21.

“I feel like, right now, we’re the strongest we’ve been offensively in three to four years,” Crommett said. “Competitively, we can hang with a lot of people. We just have to be able to finish. Most of the sets we played [Friday] night, we just weren’t able to finish. We have to go in with the right mindset and be ready to play every point and not be complacent.”

Saturday’s match was the eighth meeting between a Crommett-coached Nederland team and PNG. The Rock-A-Noos (7-10) had won eight straight over the Bulldogs (6-8), dating back to a 2016 tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed in District 22-5A.

PNG has been playing without two key players due to injury, according to first-year head coach Brittany Fruge. One was lost during Tuesday’s home win against Galveston Ball and another Thursday in a win over Baytown Lee.

In Saturday morning’s Nederland win, Hannah Hickey and Katie Perez each totaled six kills and Karley McGill added five. Kamren Savarino made 14 assists and two aces, Jenna Brekel totaled 13 digs and Hickey blocked two.

Liz Bolyard led PNG with 10 digs and seven kills, Kasidee Sartin totaled 12 digs, Paxton Shults made six assists, and Layla Stansbury and Trista Hughes each had six digs.

 

REST OF THE DAY

Later Saturday, Nederland fell 25-23, 12-25, 25-21 to Fort Bend Kempner, The Bulldogs next will host Little Cypress-Mauriceville on Tuesday and visit Bridge City on Friday.

PNG rebounded to defeat Danbury 25-10, 25-12, as Paxton Shults made 25 assists and Bolyard killed 11. Sartin made 12 digs, Bolyard nine and Sarah Grove six, Maylin Louvier nine kills and Grove six, Reese Weatherford four aces and Sartin two, and Louvier and Bolyard three blocks apiece.

The Rock-A-Noos, however, finished the day losing a rematch with Houston Second Baptist, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23. Shults came up with 30 assists in the loss, while Bolyard totaled 19 kills and Stansbury 11. Bolyard and Sartin each had 15 digs, Bolyard made six blocks, and Louvier served four aces.

PNG began its run in Dickinson on Thursday losing to LaPorte 21-25, 25-16, 25-20 despite Bolyard’s 13 kills and 10 digs, beating Baytown Lee 24-26, 25-14, 26-24 behind Bolyard’s 23 kills and Shults and Sartin’s combined 46 assists, and then falling to Houston Second Baptist 14-25, 25-14, 25-21.

On Friday, Crosby took a 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 victory over Nederland. Statistics were not available.

 

LADY TITANS STILL SEEK FIRST WIN

At the Orangefield tournament Saturday, Memorial fell 25-13, 25-21 to Liberty and 25-17, 25-17 to Orangefield to fall to 0-16 on the season. The Lady Titans were coming off a 25-6, 25-7, 25-17 loss at Livingston.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews

**This version CORRECTS Nederland’s win-loss record**