The Lady Gladiators hosted the Lady Panthers last Tuesday night. Even with powerhouse plays from each of these varsity squads, Maypearl won the game.

The Lady Gladiators and Lady Panthers battled at the dome for a district game. Maypearl won in 3 sets due to “unforced errors”, according to Head Coach Heather Richters.

Head Coach Heather Richters commented on her varsity team, "Maypearl was much tougher than I anticipated. I thought our girls played a good game, we just had way too many unforced errors. Although I feel even if we had played flawless it still would have been a tough game to win. Maypearl was just picking up everything we put down.

This year as a team we have been working on our mental toughness! The girls are amazing athletes with all the ability needed to win games but mentally they struggle. For myself the biggest opponent we face is ourselves each game. When the girls work together and put their focus on the team rather than themselves they are incredible!

As far as opponents go, the girls face their toughest teams right at the start of district…Maypearl and Grandview should be the hardest teams they face. I am confident the girls will continue to get better. Our practices have been long and intense. Now the results are showing up on the court. Just because they didn’t win does not mean they aren’t getting better. This years Lady Gladiator Volleyball team has grown leaps and bounds from the 2010 season!"

The JV White and JV Gold also played against the Lady Panthers. Coached by Tina Richards, the White team lost their games but the Gold team won in 2 sets. Coach Richards said, “We have a new team combination. We don’t get to practice together as much as we would like but there are positive things coming from our games.”