MAGNOLIA — It was similar to a year ago. Just a different backdrop.
On the final Tuesday of the regular season last year, those Magnolia Bulldogs took to the road to rival Magnolia West’s gym and pulled out a win to force a District 21-5A playoff tiebreaker later that week.
This year on their home floor and off a tough loss Friday night to Montgomery, the injury-riddled Bulldogs pulled off a remarkable win to extend their season to yet another tiebreaker.
Magnolia clawed back from five points down late in the fourth set and four points down in the fifth for a 20-25, 25-20, 15-25, 25-22, 16-14 win over the Mustangs.
Magnolia West (17-18, 7-7) needed the win to earn the third playoff spot out of the district.
Instead, the Mustangs, Bulldogs (20-18, 7-7), Montgomery and Lake Creek have created a four-way tie for the final two spots. A meeting Wednesday will set up seeding among the four teams to determine who will play whom in tiebreakers, as well as when and where.
“We knew that it would be a challenge, but we were in the same position last year,” said Magnolia coach Brooke Neel, whose team ultimately lost last year’s tiebreaker to West. “We have some veterans that knew what it would take, and my new ones are really stepping up. I’m so proud of them.”
Senior setter Kira Braun eclipsed the 2,500 career assist mark and surpassed 1,000 on the season in the win.
“It took us playing for each other, and it took all 15 of us to really pull together the win,” Braun said.
Magnolia led 4-0 to start the fifth set, but Magnolia West tied it and then gained an 11-8 advantage after five straight points.
Up 14-11, Magnolia West had three chances at a match point and third consecutive trip to the playoffs. But the Bulldogs took four straight points, including the final ace by Elizabeth Adamek, for the win.
The Bulldogs trailed for a majority of the fourth set until some late magic extended the match to a fifth.
Magnolia trailed 19-14 before an 11-3 run, including a 6-0 finish. Adamek had two kills during the final stretch.
“I told them at the very beginning that it’s going to be a battle no matter what the score is,” Neel said. “We’re going to have to scrap it out until the very end. When we called a timeout (down in the fourth set), I said, ‘It’s never over, right? We can still do this. We’ve come back from bigger deficits. We’ll be fine, but we have to go out there and give it everything that we have.’ ”
The home atmosphere really pushed the Bulldogs, who are trying to get back to the playoffs after a one-year absence.
“It was really fun to play in this atmosphere,” Braun said. “It’s a lot of pressure. But I think we did a really good job of playing under the pressure and coming out with the win.”
The first set was evenly played early, with eight ties up until it was 16-all.
From there, Magnolia West got a kill from junior Sydnie Mullens, which sparked a 4-0 run that turned into a 6-1 run. The Mustangs moved on from there as Mullens put down the winning kill for the early advantage.
Magnolia led wire-to-wire in the second set with Adamek helping her team to a comfortable lead.
Up 8-4, Adamek put in three consecutive kills and put up a block to extend the Bulldogs’ lead. The junior finished with seven kills in the set, and senior Emerson Cykoski put in the final kill to even the match. Junior Oliva Dionne added six kills.
It was back-and-forth early in the third set until a 6-0 run sparked by the serving of Magnolia West’s Maddie Spivey. Spikey put in two aces as the Mustangs went up 12-5.
Magnolia battled back to a 16-14 deficit with the help of two kills apiece by Cykoski and senior Ava Violette.
Two straight kills by Magnolia West’s Blakely Beavers sparked a 9-1 run to close out the set in the Mustangs’ favor.
Magnolia lost leading kill producer Chloe Richards to a knee injury early this month. Richards, a Houston Christian University commit, is on the leader board for all of Houston with 462 kills on the year. The Bulldogs have also been without junior Lily Anderson with another injury.
Adamek stepped up with 20 kills and 18 digs. She had 71 kills on the year coming into the night. Dionne and Violette each had 12 kills.
“They have all just really stepped up,” Neel said of the contributors. “They’re coming into their roles, and they just stepped up and fulfilled. I’m so proud of them.”
Braun finished with 44 assists and 16 digs for the double-double. Senior Alli Gentry had 10 digs.
“It really says a lot about the team bond that we have and the team chemistry to pull out a big win like this with two of our big hitters injured,” Braun said.
Magnolia is 24-12 all-time against Magnolia West, having snapped its two-match losing streak against the Mustangs. On Sept. 29, West rallied for a five-set win after losing the first two sets.
“It really doesn’t matter against West,” said Neel. “It’s going to be a dogfight no matter what.”
