Prowlers rally from first set defeat, down Cougars in thrilling fashion
Focus and confidence.
The two principles are elements that Fort Stockton head Gabrielle Harral preaches to her team day in and day out.
The Prowlers exemplified that are their home tournament this past weekend on their way to a runner-up finish out of 15 teams.
But that was not case in set one against the Compass Academy on Tuesday in Fort Stockton first best of five match of the season. The Prowlers struggled in all phases of the game in a 12-25 set-one defeat.
“I think they just got their jitters out of the way. It was their first game to five (sets). It’s a mental game. It was a rough start,” Harral said.
For the rest of the match, the Prowlers showed no resemblance of play that was displayed to start the match.
Fort Stockton jumped out to a 7-2 lead in set two on their way to a 25-16 victory.
The Prowlers and Cougars went back-and-for the entirety of set three in a thrilling 28-26 victory for Fort Stockton.
Harral’s squad battled back from being down 23-24, 24-25, and 25-26 before stringing together three consecutive points to win the game-deciding set. Sophomore Amaya Urias recorded the set-winning kill.
“The team showed great resiliency,” Harral said. “They never gave up.”
Fort Stockton played their best set of the season in terms of point margin to close out the match, winning the fourth set 25-4 for the 3-1 win (12-25, 25-16, 28-26, 25-4).
Senior Brianna Flores stood out to Harral as someone who stepped up in big moments of Thursday’s match.
“Brianna Flores did amazing. She played lights out. She never plays back row and did tonight,” she said. “I am so proud of her.”
Flores had a team-best nine kills and added a pair of aces – the second-best mark on the team in that department on Thursday.
Eliana proved to be the player of the match with a team-best 13 assists, 15 digs, four aces, and contributed four kills in the Prowlers 6-2 system.
Urias tallied a team-best two blocks and Alyana Dominguez contributed seven kills and a block.
Fort Stockton takes a 15-8 record into Tuesday’s at Odessa High.
