Tyler All Saints Defeats Lindale to Earn First Victory

TYLER -- Bryan Winegeart had been here before.

The volleyball coach at Tyler All Saints scheduled Lindale in each of the past five seasons, but came away the loser each time. The Lady Trojans looked to be headed toward that fate once more on Tuesday when Winegeart called timeout.

This time would be different.

His group of seniors had the experience needed to come back from a small deficit in the first set of the match. He just needed to give them the right motivation.

“Y’all’ve been here,” he said. “Y’all know how to do this. Calm down and let’s run what we need to run to be successful.”

Out of the timeout, Lindale scored on the serve and was one point away from winning. All Saints responded with five straight points to come back and win the set and get momentum swinging its way early.

All Saints went on to defeat Lindale, 26-24, 23-25, 25-19, 25-17 to win the match.

Winegeart said the win – All Saints’ first this year – held a bit of extra significance because of the opponent.

“Us coming out on top tonight is a great win for us and a great win for those seniors that have been on the losing end of it the past three years,” he said.

Lilley Lewis was a constant for the Lady Trojans on Tuesday.

This season has been an adjustment for Lewis, a senior. Although she has plenty of experience as a setter, she usually has had help. This year, Winegeart is implementing a one-setter system featuring Lewis.

“I’m asking a lot of her to get almost every second ball and hustle on every play,” Winegeart said. “She’s really stepped in. For her first time running the system, she’s been a great leader. Running this with just her on the court is new for her and she’s done a fantastic job.”

Lewis had all 43 assists for the Lady Trojans, proving herself valuable numerous times as she set up teammates to score.

Although All Saints (1-1) took the first match, Lindale wasn’t going out without a fight.

The Lady Eagles came out hot in the second set to take a 5-1 lead. All Saints eventually caught up, and the match remained back and forth, but a few blocks and kills from Lindale (4-4) near the end helped it even the match, winning 25-23.

Again, Winegeart needed to talk to his team. He felt they were making too many mental errors. After the talk, the Lady Trojans came out on the hot side for the third set, going up 5-1. They never looked back behind the play of Olivia Young and Hanna Waits, who combined for 34 kills. All Saints coasted to wins in the final two sets to secure the victory.

“The difference that I saw on our side was we were making a lot of mental errors the first two games,” Winegeart said. “Weren’t being smart with the volleyball. The third and fourth game, the biggest difference was we were cleaning up some of our mistakes and they gave us a few more mistakes.”