Commerce -- The top four Class 3A volleyball teams in Region II tangled Friday evening in the regional semifinals played at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
The first semifinals match began at 6:00 p.m. and featured the Argyle Lady Eagles against the Texarkana Pleasant Grove Lady Hawks.
From the beginning, it was clear even an outstanding team like Argyle didn't have an answer for the stellar defense of Pleasant Grove's rangy middle blocker Tiffany Hunnicutt. With Hunnicutt patrolling the middle and teammate Claire Northam knocking down kills from the corner, Pleasant Grove put away Argyle in straight sets, 25-17, 25-23 and 25-19.
Northam led all hitters with a dozen kills and Hunnicutt was close behind with nine kills.
Argyle's Jennifer Speer slammed down nine kills to lead the Lady Eagles and teammate Sawyer Camillo finished with six kills.
Argyle wraps up a very successful 28-13 season.
Pleasant grove improves to 36-10 and the Lady Hawks advance to the regional finals on Saturday at A&M-Commerce.
The second regional semifinal match featured the defending state champion Lucas Lovejoy Lady Leopards against a team that spent much of the year ranked number two behind Lovejoy, the Prosper Lady Eagles. According to the rankings, Prosper was the only team in North Texas that had a chance to knock off the dominant defending state champs and for the first game Friday night it looked like that might just happen.
With Prosper's Whitney Richmond collecting three quick blocks and teammates Nicole Marzik and Morgan Thompson registering kills, the Lady Eagles flew out to a 9-5 lead. But Lovejoy called time out to talk things over and began closing in behind the play of Natalie Puckett and Andie Malloy. Down the stretch, the teams battled point for point until the scoreboard read 26-26. A long serve by Prosper gave Lovejoy the advantage and a kill by Lauren McDaniel gave Lovejoy a tough 28-26 win in the opener.
Malloy's defense was phenomenal for the remainder of the match and Puckett was ever bit as impressive on offense as Lovejoy overpowered Prosper in the next two games, 25-11 and 25-12.
Pucket finished with a match-high 19 kills.
Lovejoy advances to face Pleasant Grove in the Region II-3A Finals at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, November 14 at Texas A&M University Commerce.
