Chickasha’s volleyball team lost to Deer Creek twice Saturday for a split and a fourth-place finish at the always-tough Calumet tournament.

“We were still on the bus for that 8:00 match,” coach Nancy Waters said after her Chicks dropped their first outing of the day, 25-21 and 25-10. “We came back on them in game one then let it get away and it carried over into the second game. Five kills and seven errors - we just weren’t ready to play.”

They came out and “did what we had to do” against an overmatched Seminole in match two, quickly disposing of them 25-8 and 25-6, then beat Union City in straight games for the second time this week 25-13 and 25-15 to set up a rematch with the Lady Antlers. This one was a little different.

“It was the best match of the tournament, no doubt,” the coach said. “We played so much better. We lost in three close games and all three were played at a very high level. Even though we lost I was so proud of the kids.”

It was a nail-biter with long rallies and lead changes through all three games. Chickasha got some payback for the morning loss in game one with a 25-23 win but Deer Creek bounced back to win game two 27-25. The intensity picked up for the rubber game, which Deer Creek survived 15-13.

“It was unreal,” Waters said. “It was so loud in that gym that everyone from the other gym came over to watch our match. (Calumet has two gymnasiums located on either side of a central dining room/concession area. Tournament matches are played in both gyms at the same time.)

“The stands were packed with fans, other teams and other coaches and people were lined up standing wherever there was room. The only people not over in our gym were the two teams playing in the other gym.”

Julie Firebaugh had another big match against Union City, knocking back 11 of the team’s 14 kills and Hunter Fleetwood had a big match against Deer Creek, dropping down 10 of the team’s 16 kills. Firebaugh finished the day with 23 and Fleetwood had 14.

Cassandra Filip had a huge day in the back, setting up the front line with 30 assists, 14 of them against Deer Creek.

The teams travel to Corn Bible Tuesday then visit Cement on Thursday. The junior high team will close out a busy week hosting the Chickasha Middle School Tournament on Saturday.