The Tioga Lady Bulldogs volleyball team reeled off their seventh win in a row, sweeping the rival Collinsville Lady Pirates 3-0 on Oct. 3.
It was a seesaw affair, with the two teams trading the lead multiple times, with the Lady Bulldogs coming from behind to win Set 1 by two points, controlling Set 2 and coming from behind again in Set 3 to walk away with the overall victory.
“It was awesome to get in there and get the sweep,” Tioga head volleyball coach Trevin Robinson said. “I was told all week, ‘We can’t beat Collinsville,’ so it was big for us to get over that hump, but our goal isn’t just to beat Collinsville. We want to win district and to do that, we have to beat some good teams, and so far, we’ve done that. We’re 4-0 in district, and we’re rolling, so we’re right where we need to be.”
Collinsville jumped out to an early lead in the opening set, going up 5-0, and continued to control the set, finding themselves up 22-18 before Tioga came to life, squeaking out the win in Set 1, 26-24.
The Lady Bulldogs turned the tables in the second set, building a double- digit lead at 23-13 and closing Set 2 with the score at 25-17.
Tioga found itself playing from behind 18-12 in Set 3, and that’s when the Lady Bulldogs found another gear to come from behind and pull out the 2521 victory.
“I told them, ‘You have a chance to do something really awesome here, but we have to lock in now and go to work and eliminate the mistakes,’ and we were able to overcome that adversity and go win the set and sweep them,” Robinson said.
Robinson went on to highlight the Lady Bulldogs’ resiliency and determination to find a way to
win.
“We’ve talked about mental toughness all year long,” he said. “You’re going to have some adversity in every game. Something goes wrong in every set we play; how do we overcome it? And for us, that’s been something we’ve focused on all year long in practice, so when we get in these huge games, we’re not worried about ‘Hey, that’s a bad mistake.’ Instead, we’re focused on how we can make the next play.”
Kennedy Slay led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 kills, followed by Madison McDonald, who had 10 kills, and Kyndall Whitley, who had 9 kills.
“It was a great feeling in the end,” Slay said. “Everyone was playing really well, and all week we heard, ‘Y’all have been on a great run, but you always tend to slip up against Collinsville,’ and to show that we were able to overcome all the noise and perform the way we did really showed how great we’ve gotten as a team mentally and physically.”
Setter Ella Norwood also played well for the Lady Bulldogs, with 37 assists, 4 aces and 13 digs, after the team’s other setter, Sadie Bates, missed the game after suffering a concussion in practice earlier in the week.
“Seeing something like that happen [to Sadie] was some adversity for us, but we knew going into a situation like that you can’t be afraid, and we just had to take it head-on,” Norwood said. “I just wanted to help my team the best way I could, and stepping up was the only way to do that.”
The loss brought the Lady Pirates’ record to 2210 on the season, but Collinsville head volleyball coach Savannah Fields said she was happy with her team’s play despite the outcome.
“While the result against wasn’t what we hoped for, I’m proud of the effort and resilience our girls showed throughout the match,” she said. “We didn’t perform to our usual standard, and at times, we struggled to find our rhythm, but even in a tough rivalry game, the team kept fighting, and that speaks to their character. This game was a wake-up call, not a defeat in spirit.”
She added that the Lady Pirates still have a lot of volleyball left ahead of them, and the team still has areas it can improve.
“We’re focused on using this experience to sharpen our execution, stay connected as a team, and approach every match with renewed energy and purpose,” Fields said. “The goal is to keep building, one point, one game at a time, and I believe this group is ready to rise to that challenge.”
Collinsville rebounded from their loss to Tioga with a 3-0 win over Sam Rayburn on Tuesday, bringing their record to 23-10, while Tioga lost to Whitewright, making their record 25-7-2.
Tioga will go on the road to face Trenton at 4:30 p.m. Friday, while Collinsville returns to the home hardwood for a date with Tom Bean at 4 p.m. Friday.

The Tioga Lady Bulldogs celebrate their 3-0 win over their
Photos by Bill Norwood/ The Post-Signal