Thursday sports: Lady Gators win clash of champions, more scores

Aug. 7, 2025 – Thursday night volleyball featured a battle of state champions, both in DeSoto County, as Lake Cormorant defeated Lewisburg in three straight sets. Scores of the victory in the contest between last year’s 6A state champions (Lake Cormorant) and last year’s 7A winners (Lewisburg) were 25-21, 25-23, and 25-23.  

SET 1: LAKE CORMORANT 25, LEWISBURG 21

The Lady Gators went out to a 3-0 lead and led 5-1 and 6-2 before Lewisburg rallied to tie the set when Sofia Gonzalez hit a volley into the net. A Lady Gator volley came up short to give the Lady Patriots an 11-9 lead, but Lake Cormorant rallied to forge a 14-11 lead. Lewisburg took a timeout at that point. The string included a pair of consecutive aces served by Payton Davis. 

The lead became 18-12 when Ma’Kayla Hill served an ace, forcing another Lady Patriot stoppage.  Lake Cormorant would add another point out of the timeout for its biggest lead of the set at 19-12 and extended it one more to 21-13 before Lewisburg made a comeback. The gap closed to 24-21 and Lake Cormorant called a timeout to settle down and won the set when Lewisburg couldn’t return the ball within the required three hits.  

SET 2: LAKE CORMORANT 25, LEWISBURG 23

The second set saw no team lead by more than two points at any point of the set.  Lewisburg led 5-3 early on and led 13-11 when a block from Mary Oliva Barnes forced a Lake Cormorant timeout.  However, Kelsi Agner’s block would give Lake Cormorant a 20-19 advantage. Lewisburg took the lead back at 22-21 when Agner’s volley was a mishit. The next two points went back to the Lady Gators to 23-22 and Gonzalez’s ace serve put Lake Cormorant within a set point at 24-22 and forced a Lewisburg timeout. Out of the stoppage, a drop shot to the Lady Patriot floor by Hill gave the Lady Gators the set.  

SET 3, LAKE CORMORANT 25, LEWISBURG 23

There was no more than a three-point lead in the closely played period.  A block by Barnes set Lewisburg in front 3-1 and a Barnes ace made the score 6-3 for the Lady Patriots. The next four points went to Lake Cormorant for a 7-6 edge when a Lewisburg volley went long, but the next three points went to the Lady Patriots to 9-7 when Hill’s volley went long for Lake Cormorant.  From there, the Lady Gators scored the next four points for an 11-9 edge, resulting in a Lewisburg timeout. Lake Cormorant called for its own stoppage when the Lady Patriots led 18-16 after a block at the net for a point.  The Lady Gators answered again with its own four-point run for a 20-18 lead, but Lewisburg tied the set at 20-20 on a mishit by Lake Cormorant. The set went back-and-forth until Davis’ block tied things at 23-23. The final two points after the resulting timeout gave the set and match to Lake Cormorant.  

Photo credit: Mary Scott, Oak River Media

“Both teams played really great but I knew our team was going to battle it out,” said Morgan. “I’m proud of my girls because they had a lot of fight in them.”  

Morgan said her team has specific goals she has placed in front of them for each match. 

“We’re been making these team goals, a certain number we want to hit on serve receive, our serving and hitting,” Morgan said. “We’ve been working on that and I think they’re really trying to focus on meeting those goals. If we meet those goals, we’ll go and set some other goals.”  

Lewisburg coach Amy Hendrichovsky felt her team play much better in the second and third sets than they did in the first set Thursday night.  Hendrichovsky added a competitive match like Thursday will benefit her squad as the schedule progresses.  

“It was a great match for us to play at this point in the season,” she said. “We’re growing a lot as a group and I think that we’re very versatile, we have kids playing at positions they maybe didn’t always play.”

Lake Cormorant has a school-day game next on Tuesday, Aug. 12 against Hernando. Lewisburg next plays a district match at Southaven, also on Tuesday.  

Thursday, Aug. 7

Prep volleyball

Lake Cormorant 3, Lewisburg 2 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23)

South Panola at Horn Lake

DeSoto Central 3, Germantown (Madison) 2 (25-23, 14-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-12)

• DeSoto Central: Genesis Weeks led with 24 kills and 13 digs. Ellie Nehls had 14 kills and 3 blocks. Iyana Fields had 4 blocks. Natalie Loftin had 33 assists. Marlee Mueller had 22 digs. 

Hernando 3, Center Hill 2 (25-12, 25-21, 16-25, 24-26, 15-11)

Olive Branch 3, Southaven 0

Girls’ softball

Magnolia Heights at DeSoto, Arkansas