Emory – The Lady Farmers struggled in a back-and-forth battle against the Van Lady Vandals last night, ending their season.

Despite a strong start, the Lady Farmers couldn’t close, losing to the Lady Vandals in five sets (25-13, 14-25, 25-17, 20-25, 8-15). The defeat is the first loss for Farmersville in the regional quarterfinals since 2017.
They previously defeated the Lady Vandals twice in the season, including a four-set win at Van.

Farmersville set the tone early, scoring 11 of the match’s first 13 points. They closed the first set on a 7-3 scoring run to win by 12 points. Van responded in the second set, winning 12 of the final 16 points to tie the game at one set each.

This was their first losing set of the playoffs, but the Lady Farmers had a solid third set. They won by eight after scoring eight of the final 11 points. However, the Lady Vandals dominated in the fourth set, leading 19-11 en route to a five-point win.

In the tiebreaking fifth set, Van continued their dominance, winning six of the first eight points. Farmersville rallied, but it wasn’t enough, as the Lady Vandals won by seven points to advance to the regional semifinals.

Farmersville ended the season with a 40-3 record. They graduate five seniors: setter Jenson McTee, setter Lexi Hacker, outside hitter Riley Tuck, defensive specialist Hannah Laisure and outside hitter Rylee Ortega.

For the complete story, see next week’s edition of The Farmersville Times. Support your community newspaper for less than $40 a year.

By Jackson King * [email protected]