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The Columbus Lady Cards made their way to Cuero High School to take on Goliad int he Regional Finals on Thursday, Nov. 14 where their season came to an end in four sets.
It was a tough and hard-fought game for the Lady Cards, and they left it all out on the floor for their final game of the 2024 season.
“Even though it wasn’t the outcome we wanted, I still am really proud of my team,” Lady Cards senior outside hitter Taylor Morrow said.
The match was already an uphill fight with Goliad being only a 30-minute drive to Cuero while the Lady Cards had to drive an hour and 20 minutes. It provided the opportunity for more Goliad fans to pack the stands and be directly on top of the Lady Cards for what was supposed to be a neutral site game that is equidistant for each team.
While the Lady Cards were not awarded that luxury, for whatever reason the UIL has, they played the game regardless. That’s what this team does, they battle any and all kinds of adversity no matter how big or small.
In the first set the Lady Cards were down 10-4 and with the Goliad faithful breathing down their neck they needed some sort of spark. They weathered the early storm and eventually went on a 15-9 run to tie the set up at 19 points.
The Lady Cards were able to score only five more points though before Goliad ended the set with a score of 25-20.
The second set saw the Lady Cards fall behind by a big margin. The score sat at 19-9 and the Lady Cards offense struggled to string points together.
They mustered up only 12 points in the second set while Goliad continued to hum on offense.
“They (Goliad) came with all the offense they had and put up huge blocks and we made a few too many errors tonight,” Lady Cards head coach Kayley Johns said. “It put us behind and put us in a position where we had to fight back, and we were just too far behind.”
The third set saw the Lady Cards bounce back with a huge 25-21 win but in the fourth set the Lady Cards offensive struggles returned, and Goliad closed out the match with a 25-13 final.
The Lady Cards season has come to an end, but they accomplished so much while many thought they would not. They lost a few key pieces from last year’s team that went to State but still ended up in the Regional final and team captain Caylie Neisner is proud of her team for making it that far.
“I think going from where we were at at the beginning of the season to now is just truly incredible,” Neisner said. “The young ones stepped up Logan (Glueck), Harper (Gerik) they knew what they had to do and did it to the best of their ability and we have grown so much as a team, and I am just so proud to be a part of this team.”
The Lady Cards finished the year with a undefeated district record and won the Bi-District, Area and Regional Semi-Final Championship before closing the book on another great year of volleyball.
