VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW: BURTON VS. AGUA DULCE

The Burton Lady Panther Volleyball Team's march to the State Tournament continues this (Friday) afternoon with a trip down south. The Lady Panthers are scheduled to face the Agua Dulce Lady Longhorns in the Region Semifinals beginning at 5pm at Yoakum High School. KWHI will have live coverage beginning with the pregame at 4:35pm on the KWHI.com Sports Alternate Feed.

Burton enters the match with a 38-9 overall record, and finished District 26-2A as the unbeaten champions. The Lady Panthers are also currently on a 13-match winning streak.

Head Coach Blaire Smith is in her third season at the helm of the Lady Panther program. In her first season, she guided Burton to a 30-18 overall record and they made it to the Area Round. Then, last year, the Lady Panthers went 35-15 overall, and made it to the Region Championship Match.

In the playoffs so far this year, Burton is coming off sweeping McDade last week in the Bi-District Round by scores of 25-10, 25-6, and 25-9. Then, they defeated Weimar this past Tuesday in another three-set sweep by scores of 25-19, 25-15, and 25-23.

Agua Dulce finished the regular season as Co-Champions of District 31-2A with Skidmore-Tynan. The two teams split the season series with each winning a match against the other. The Lady Longhorns are 18-7 overall, and riding a seven-match winning streak coming into the showdown with Burton.

Last year, Agua Dulce finished second in their district, and lost to La Villa in the Bi-District Round.

Last week, in the Bi-District Round, Agua Dulce got their revenge by sweeping La Villa 3-0 with scores of 25-6, 25-14, and 25-16. Then, this past Tuesday, in the Area Round, the Lady Longhorns swept Harper in three straight sets in the Area Round 26-24, 25-12, and 25-12.

The winner of the Burton-Agua Dulce match will meet Shiner in the Region Championship next week. Shiner swept Freer in three sets on Thursday night to advance.