By Chuck Licata

Editor’s note: We’d like to thank LHHS assistant principal Robert Stoss provided the stats for this tournament wrap-up.  

The Liberty Hill High School Lady Panthers continued to get “playing time” this past weekend, playing six matches in the span of 72 hours.

Gretchen Peterson’s crew played in the Hill Country Invitational last Thursday and Saturday, book-ending a Friday night match at Giddings. The Lady Panthers racked up a 3-3 record in the six outings, giving the team a 7-10 overall record for the 2010 season.

The following is a summary of a majority of the matches.

Hondo def. LHHS

In the first match of the Hill Country Invitational on Thursday, the Lady Panthers fell in three games to the Hondo Lady Owls, 18-25, 25-14 and 25-21.

The Lady Panthers (4-8) fell behind quickly in Set 1, 3-0, before launching on a 15-7 run to take a 15-10 lead. Kills from Catherine Heath, Shelby Stoss, Stephanie Metzger and MyKayla Lockhart helped spark the run.

The offensive attack continued on kills by Metzger, Stoss, Emilie Philpott and Lockhart as the Lady Panthers struggled but survived a 7-3 Hondo spurt. Philpott hammered a kill (off a set by Lockhart) to wrap up the 25-18 victory.

The second set was tied at 7-all when Hondo found its offense and defense, sparking a game-ending 18-7 scoring run by the Lady Owls for a 25-14 victory. The third set proved tight as both teams had scoring runs. In the end, Hondo launched a 7-4 scoring spurt that propelled them to a match-clinching 25-21 win.

LHHS def. Blanco

The Lady Panthers (5-8) rebounded from the loss to Hondo and beat a Blanco team they blitzed earlier this season at the Tex-Fest tournament in Wimberley.

Gretchen Peterson’s squad broke out the offense as seven different players tallied kills in a 25-13, Set 1 victory. Shelby Stoss led the team with three kills, Paige Runnels had two while Stephanie Metzger, Catherine Heath, Emilie Philpott, Brittany Simmons and MyKayla Lockhart had one each.

Kallie Perrin tallied five assists and two service aces while Lockhart added four assists and one ace.

The Blanco version of the Lady Panthers battled hard in Set 2 but Liberty Hill held fast, winning 25-19. Lockhart assisted on five kills while Perrin had three assists.

Metzger, who had a block in Game 1, made another block and block-assist i\n Game 2; teammates Catherine Heath (one block) and Brittany Simmons (block assist) also stepped up in the front line. Shelby Stoss (four kills, one ace) and Paige Runnels (three kills, one ace) aided in the win.

The 1-1 record put LHHS in the Consolation bracket on Saturday.

Giddings def. LHHS

The Lady Panthers traveled down Hwy. 290 to Giddings and battled hard against the homestanding Lady Buffaloes. Giddings scratched out a tough five-set victory over Liberty Hill (25-19, 22-25, 25-18, 20-25, 19-17).

The worst part of the loss was an injury to Liberty Hill’s “Monster in the Middle,” junior Catherine Heath. She was hurt in the second set when she apparently slipped under the net during a point.

The closeness of the match was typified by the fifth set as both teams battled to a 13-13 tie to start the set. Shelby Stoss hammered four kills while Emilie Philpott had two and Paige Runnels one in the first 13 points.

Phipott torched the tile again to force a 15-15 tie and send the set into overtime. Both teams traded points until, at 17-17, Giddings got a kill and block on back-to-back points to close out the victory.

LHHS def. Harper

Gretchen Peterson’s LHHS varsity squad overcame a Set 1 loss and rebounded to win the match against Harper by taking Set 2 (25-22) then by overtime in Set 3 (29-27).

Liberty Hill seemed to make a series of hitting errors in helping Harper win Set 1. But the tables turned in Set 2 as Harper made the errors and Liberty Hill was on the attack, getting kills from Shelby Stoss, Stephanie Metzger, Paige Runnels and Emilie Philpott (among others). Back-to-back aces by MyKayla Lockhart also helped the effort.

The two teams then waged an epic battle in the third and final set. With the set tied at 12-12, both squads traded points up until 18-18. Harper then grabbed a small lead before LHHS fought back to tie the set at 27-27. Metzger then took a dish from Kallie Perrin for a kill and Stoss finished things off with an amazing back-row kill. 

St. Mary’s def. LHHS

St. Mary’s swept the Lady Panthers in two straight games, 25-22 and 25-23. St. Mary’s would go on to win the Consolation bracket of the Hill Country Invitational.