Mexico wanted to fight through the extent of every play on Tuesday.

Mexico vs Hallsville Districts Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs weren’t able to keep points alive long enough to help keep the season alive as they were swept in three sets by Hallsville in the opening round of the Class 3 District 7 tournament at Fulton. Mexico lost the first set 25-17 mainly due to a 9-0 Hallsville run, dropped the second set 25-20 after losing five of the last seven points, and had the third set taken from them 25-21 despite an early 12-3 lead.

Mexico head coach RaShonda Willis said districts need the most fight out of players because of the one-and-done nature of the tournament structure. Mexico weren’t able to win points while Hallsville (9-18-5) did better at keeping them alive.

“It is essentially not playing until the end of the play and having each other’s back,” Willis said. “It’s the will to win. It’s understanding that it is first to 10, first to 15 and not being able to close games. We’re not looking at teammates to see if they’re going to get it. Just own the ball.”

Willis said Mexico has encountered inability to close sets and matches before as the program is in a rebuild with Willis in her first year as the Lady Bulldogs’ head coach. She spent time last year as an assistant but said more time will be needed, especially with the younger girls, to buy in and improve from the 4-21-1 record this year.

A match can be overwhelming if looked at as a whole so breaking it down by goals like being the first to reach a certain number of points is helpful, Willis said, as it helped the Lady Bulldogs feed off each other for momentum. Hallsville mounted more sizable runs even after trailing 12-3 early in the third set before eventually tying the game at 17 and then 19 before winning the final five points.

“We start at first to five, first to 10, first to 15 and so on to make sure we take it one play at a time,” Willis said. “Getting the bench involved like talking to them saying ‘Hey swing’ and things like that. That helped with their momentum and getting them out to a lead and then our bench stopped talking so then we stopped playing.”

Hallsville finished with 10 service aces and took an early advantage with a 9-0 run in the first set partially due to three straight aces by Addison Sides. She led another 7-0 run in the third set that included two aces.

“She spot-serves – she serves short, she serves long, she serves deep,” Willis said. “That’s not something that we work on that we do so I put them back where we normally do and we ended up covering then and getting the balls.”

Mexico did have some serving success from Ava Herron and JaClynn Cline, who each had two aces along with three and five kills, respectively. The star for the Lady Bulldogs was from their senior in the middle Mary Test.

The William Woods commit Test finished with four kills and a team-high three aces, helping Mexico back the second set after recording a kill and then back-to-back aces in a 4-0 run. She was able to put the ball over the net while several Lady Bulldogs couldn’t sustain serving turns as long before committing an error.

“Her serves were a big help and is a big presence felt on the team that we’re going to miss next year,” Willis said. “I’m going to be trying to train a new middle (blocker) since we’re losing Mary as our middle and her serve. She knows how to place the ball.”

Mexico’s middle section of the court is looking the most questionable heading into next season. Hallsville placed the ball a few times in the middle portion of Mexico side of the net, including on the match-winning point. Senior Anna Raines was Mexico’s other middle that will be missed along with Test and the team’s other seniors Ella Raines and setter Lizzie Joiner, who had three kills in her final match.

“I have a bunch of outsides, a bunch of right sides, a bunch of liberos (for next year),” Willis said. “Hopefully we can get some girls coming out for middle next year.”

Mexico’s win total this season was cut in half from last season’s 8-15-1 record after losing a big group of seniors from that team. Willis said laying more groundwork should help those wins and even more victories come back to the program.

“In rebuilding, they’re learning my coaching style and the structure of how I need it to be ran and just having them buy into the program,” Willis said. “That was essentially what it was in our struggles this year. Within the next one or two years, they would have bought in, and at that time, they’ll be juniors and seniors and we’ll be able to get some W’s. They came out and competed tonight. That was the biggest thing (to end this season).”