MARSHALL - "We did not play our best at the Marshall tournament," said Bullard head coach Kala Laningham after the weekend of play at the Marshall Invitational played at East Texas Baptist Univertisty. " We made entirely too many mental mistakes."

The Lady Panthers had nine service errors during pool play. Playing to 15, those errors you can not afford.

Despite a perfect hitting average recorded by Calli Miller who went six-for-six versus New Boston beat the Lady Panthers in their first matachup. The team as a whole struggled as they recorded a very low hitting percentage.

Against Jefferson, Bullard came out with a win but still marked seven attacking errors and five missed serves.

"The girls really started communicating in the second game, and ended with a 15-9 win," said Laningham. " I told the girls going into the last game of pool play, that they would have to beat John Tyler both games to make it into the Championship Bracket." That was all the motivation they needed as the Lady Panthers looked great in the win against John Tyler.

Bullard racked up 18 team kills, seven team blocks, and demonstrated great communication and teamwork. Match scores against the Lady Lions were 15-8, and 15-6, placing Bullard second and qualifying for the championship bracket.

The championship bracket proved to be a rough road.

The Lady Panthers bracket play against Liberty-Eylau and lost a close bout, 17-25, 25-22, 19-25.

"We played better against Liberty-Eylau despite the score but we still made a great deal of unforced errors," Laningham added, "and we also had a lot of great things happen during that match."

Miller recored 11 kills, Ashley Davis added nine kills, Valarie Roberts and Elisia Coleman chipped in with five kills apiece.

Heather Camp played great the whole tournament with consistent setting and with the exception of the first match, recorded an average of about 15 assists per match.

"As a young setter, she really positioned herself as a reliable leader on our team in the duration of the tournament," Laningham said. "Her defense was great and she made tons of great saves throughout the weekend."

The Lady Panthers then had to face Texas High, and did not have any luck run their way in the 23-25, and 13-25 loses.

The Bullard defense was not where it needed to be to combat the strong offense of Texas High. The Lady Tigers have a few great hitters that really made our defense work throughout the contest.

Miller recorded nine kills, and three solo blocks, while Valarie Roberts added five kills, and Ashley Davis had four. Coleman was cited by Laningham for playing great defense at the net and across the back row.

After a home game against Nacogdoches on Tuesday, the Lady Panthers will play at All Saints on Friday, at 6 p.m.