John Tyler Rolls to Sweep Of Nacogdoches On Senior Night

It was Senior Night at the Lions Den, and the John Tyler Lady Lions made the most out of their final home match of the regular season.

Playing in front of a raucous crowd that included the school's full marching band, John Tyler rolled to a 25-17, 25-16, 25-12 sweep of Nacogdoches on Tuesday night.

The Lady Lions (24-9, 7-1) maintained a firm grip on second place in the District 16-4A standings, just one game behind front-running Lindale with two matches left to play.

"It was their last game at home their season year and they did a great job," John Tyler coach Stephanie March-Smith said. "I'm proud of all the seniors. In fact, in the second-to-last rotation, all of them were out there at the same time other than the libero."

The Lady Lions were led by outside hitter Amicia Williams, who hammered home 12 kills to go with one block on defense.

"Amicia did an excellent job tonight," March-Smith said. "She did very well at being consistent on the outside, attacking the ball. She played pretty good defense, and she's been playing well consistently for the last three games and I'm real proud of her."

Erica Franklin added eight kills, one assist and an ace. Setter Quaneshia Johnson finished with 26 assists, three kills and one ace.

"Her back has been bothering her, but she's worked through it," March-Smith said of Johnson. "She's been going to the trainer and getting some stretching done. And she's just a little beast. She gives us everything she has and then some."

Charity Page led Nacogdoches with seven kills and a block. Sydney Watson and Morgan Farrell teamed for 12 assists, while Ashton Brown provided four kills, two blocks and an assist.

In Game 1, the Lady Lions broke it open with seven consecutive points to take a 24-16 lead. The spurt was ignited by five of Williams' 12 kills on the night. DeDe Rouge was at the service line for the six of the points.

The second game followed a similar script with John Tyler scoring seven points in a row, six of which with Rouge at the service line. The run put the Lady Lions in control, 22-13.

The final set of the night was all John Tyler, which took advantage of several unforced Lady Dragons errors to build an early 10-2 lead. Williams had four kills, and Johnson dished out nine assists in the match-clinching game.

The Lady Lions return to the court Friday evening, taking on Lindale, which defeated John Tyler in four game in their previous encounter on Oct. 2 in Tyler. John Tyler then finishes its regular season next Tuesday at Whitehouse.

"We need to up the ante because we're getting ready to go into the playoffs," March-Smith said. "We're still growing and developing the mindset, not physically but mentally staying tough. And that's where we're breaking down a little bit."