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Snyder’s Madelyn Cravens returns a shot during Tuesday’s volleyball match against Sweetwater at Tiger Gym.
Snyder moved one step closer to the District 5-4A No. 2 seed by defeating Sweetwater on Tuesday.
Snyder interim head coach Mindi Bredemeyer said the team was ready to play once the match started.
“It was a crucial match because we didn’t want a split with Sweetwater,” she said. “We needed to get the early lead. They played strong, like a team and ran our quick offense well. We needed to do that, so we would be successful.”
A’nia Ware had six kills, 22 assists, two digs and one blocked shot while Kendra Bynum finished with nine kills, 20 assists and eight digs. Natalee James had 16 kills, seven digs and two blocked shots.
“The players have grown up a lot the last few games,” Bredemeyer said. “They did a good job of picking up the faster style of offense. Our defense also improved, especially using Abby Benitez at libero. Abby is a tough player and gets to balls that other players could not reach.”
Bredemeyer said the team may be small on the front line, but the players make up for it with quickness and determination.
“We have girls with quick swings,” she said. “The quick offense turned our team around. We used quick and crossover patterns to try to isolate our blockers. It makes us more effective.”
In the first set, Snyder (16-15, 4-2) built a 9-1 lead and never trailed in the 25-22 win.
The lead went back and forth in the second set until Snyder took a 13-11 lead. The Lady Tigers scored the next five points en route to a 25-16 win and 2-0 match advantage.
In the third set, Sweetwater scored the first nine points and won the set25-14.
With the fourth set tied 13-13, Snyder scored 11 of the next 16 points and held onto to win the set, 25-22, and the match.
“I would rather forget the third set,” Bredemeyer said. “We didn’t come out ready to play. Maybe we thought we had it in the bag or it was a mental breakdown. We started the fourth set with a rough start. We finally got back playing like we did in the first two sets.”
Snyder will host district leader Greenwood at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Greenwood can clinch the district championship with a win. Snyder can earn the No. 2 seed with a win and a Sweetwater win over Big Spring Saturday.
“It will be a big match,” Bredemeyer said. “We want a shot at Greenwood and I think we can win. Sweetwater played Big Spring to five sets last week. We will see how it goes.”
Snyder statistics — A’Nia Ware 6 kills, 22 assists, 2 digs, 1 blocked shot; Abby Benitez 25 digs; Kamiah Davis 6 kills, 3 digs, 1 blocked shot; Kate McWilliams 4 kills, 1 service ace, 13 digs; Kendra Bynum 9 kills, 20 assists, 8 digs; Madelyn Cravens 5 kills, 2 digs, 1 blocked shot; Natalee James 16 kills, 7 digs, 2 blocked shots; Nicole Martinez 1 service ace.