ALVIN — Win or lose, the O’Connell Consolidated Lady Buccaneers volleyball team ushered in the first normalcy in Galveston County sports since Hurricane Rita spurred the region’s first mandatory evacuation.
The Lady Bucs (20-6) took the first two games against Living Stones Christian School, but the Lady Lions roared back to take the final three and a 28-30, 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-11 victory.
Living Stones’ comeback ended on a fake set attack from Courtney Kinchen that landed on the back line for the match clincher in the first event at the school’s new gym, which might have never opened had Rita not weakened and veered more north before making landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border.
Neither squad had played volleyball in a week, and the myriad miscues on both sides proved it. O’Connell held a brief, informal practice Tuesday morning that didn’t involve players that had yet to return to Galveston. The Lady Bucs fielded their full roster for the match, but missed serves and errors hurt the O’Connell cause throughout.
Lauren Daughtry had a team-high 11 kills for O’Connell. Mollye Mlcak and Melanie Helms added five kills each. Whitney Pearce had 13 assists. Mlcak led the team with 21 digs, and Kathleen Dispensa had 19.
But it was the blistering serves from the Lady Lions’ Tiffani Wagner and Rachel Bennett, and the hitting of Kendra Shawrich that buoyed Living Stones in its come-from-behind victory.
O’Connell head coach Larry Zeringue said he scheduled the match with Living Stones, which last saw the Lady Bucs at the O’Connell tournament last month, to prepare for a large number of district matches in a short time — made necessary by the weeklong hurricane hiatus.
“Living Stones is a good team, and I wanted us to play someone good to get us ready to play in district,” Zeringue said.
O’Connell Consolidated High School took minimal damage from Rita, despite gusty winds and a large blaze on The Strand just blocks away from the Lady Bucs’ gym — which the storm left unscathed.
O’Connell will play host to district rival Cypress Christian on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
