Blues finish second against strong field at Lu Allen

The Lady Blues will head to the Sawyer Camillo Memorial tournament in Argyle Thursday with a greater confidence after finishing second in their home Lu Allen Tournament over the weekend. Despite not finishing first at the Lu Allen, Graham managed to beat three state ranked teams, including 4A No. 1 Krum 25-20; 25-21. “We beat them in two,” Graham coach Marci Faulk said. “It felt like we had control of the game the whole time. We were really scrappy on defense. I had gotten onto my girls telling them we need more threats on offense. We can’t just rely on one girl. My other three hitter, Emily [Davis], Chloe [Menard] and Emma [Ranger] gave us really good options.” The win over Krum came after victories over Monterey (25-21; 25-18) and Brownwood (25-19; 25-17), and a disappointing loss to Caprock (25-23; 23-25; 14-25) in Friday’s pool play. “They were excited about playing us,” Faulk said of Caprock. “I think we came out overconfident and they had a plan to beat us.” After the gauntlet of pool play on Friday, the Blues opened Saturday’s bracket play facing 4A’s No. 9-ranked Denver City. “The kids were excited to pull them because we lost to them in Shallowater,” Faulk said. “We won that on in two after winning the first set 28-26. I was proud of our ability not to panic. We kept our composure and didn’t panic. Those are situations we want to be in at this point in the season.” The 28-26; 25-18 win over Denver City set Graham up against 1A-2A’s No. 6-ranked team Windthorst where the Lady Blues showed growth in their toughness. For the rest of this story, pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Graham Leader, or subscribe to our online edition.