BULLARD — The Lady Panthers of Bullard proved that there is no place like home on Tuesday night in soundly defeating cross town rival Brook Hill 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-22) and in making short work of Jacksonville. The Lady Panthers also defeated the Maidens by a 3-0 count, winning 25-20, 25-23, 25-23.

The matches were played before a nice size crown a Panther Gymnasium.

Brook Hill (1-1) and Jacksonville also squared off in the tri-match, with the Lady Guard coming away with a 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-18) verdict over the Maidens, who are now 0-2.

Bullard improved to 2-1 on the year after falling to Pine Tree in Longview in Monday's season opener.

The Lady Panthers will play in the Carthage Tournament next, while Jacksonville will see tourney action at Palestine Westwood. Those events start today and run through Saturday.

“I thought we played much better than we did (against Pine Tree),” Ben Belshaw, Bullard head coach said. “We could have finished a little bit better against Brook Hill.

“During a season a team has to learn how to lose and they have to learn how to win and I think that we will go on from here and learn how to finish matches strong.”

Belshaw said that he felt the rivalry with Brook Hill helped to amp his squad up a bit.

“A lot of our girls know their (Brook Hill) girls because we are both in Bullard and with that knowledge came an aggressiveness to want to go out and get the win,” Belshaw said.

Bullard 3, Brook Hill 0

Bullard took the lead for good at 14-13, taking advantage of a Lady Guard hitting error, after the first half of Game 1 was played on even terms. Bullard got three late kills from Meredith Daly and one each off the hands of Lexi Abercrombie and Mackenzie Fish to nail down the win.

In Game 2 Bullard led from first serve until the end as unforced mistakes by Brook Hill proved costly for the Lady Guard.

The Lady Panthers closed the set out on a 8-0 run, which was sparked by two Fish spikes and a Daly service ace on the final point of the game. Daly went 8-of-9 from the service line in the game.

Things were much closer in Game 3, despite Bullard leading by seven (14-7) early on.

The Lady Panthers continued to battle as Alyssa Eden pitched in a couple of late-match kills, while Charlie Niles and Abigail Baker added solo spikes for the Lady Guard.

With Bailee Rozell at the service line, Brook Hill pulled to within a single point, 21-22, down the stretch before Bullard got the ship righted on a hard slam to the back-left corner by Ashley Searcy that put the Lady Panthers in front by a couple of points.

Statistical, Daly led Bullard with eight kills and two blocks, followed by Fish with seven kills, three aces and five digs.

Mallory McCoy contributed three service aces and five assists, while Bri Ridgley racked up 14 assists.

For Brook Hill, Samantha Anderson had four power slams to led the attack, with Eden amassing three kills and an ace.

Brook Hill 3, Jacksonville 1

Jacksonville played its best early on and churned out a 12-7 lead at one point, which seemed to wake the Lady Guard up.

Brook Hill then executed a 9-0 run which was sparked by Baker's prowess at the back line.

Anderson delivered three late kills from the front row to seal the Maidens' fate and give Brook Hill its first win of the year.

Game 2 was an old fashioned nail biter whose outcome was not decided until the end.

With the set tied at 21, the Maidens took advantage on three-straight unforced miscues by the Lady Panthers to take charge, 24-21.

A Carey Johnson kill on a nice set from Mackenzie Crow resulted in the game-winning point for Jacksonville.

The Maidens carried their Game 2 success into the next set as the match started with a spike from Shelbi Laney, allowing the Maidens to draw first blood.

But, Brook Hill returned fire by winning the next 10 points as Jacksonville failed to come up with a way to counter Eden's strong serves — four points during the outburst came on aces by Eden, a Brook Hill senior.

The Lady Guard soon had a double-digit lead that they held until the Maidens sliced things to nine, 11-20, after a Brook Hill service error.

Jacksonville got to within six points twice in the closing stages, but that was as close as the Maidens would get.

Anderson badgered the Maidens with five kills in Game 4 as Brook Hill led from start to finish.

Eden went 8-of-9 from the service line in the game.

For the match, the 6-foot-2 Anderson tallied 11 kills to spark Brook Hill, with Eden adding a half dozen to go along with six service aces.

Desarae Rowan added four spikes and served up an ace.

Laney topped out with five kills for the Maidens, while Jessica Jones and Chancii Scott pitched in a pair of slams each.

Bullard 3, Jacksonville 0

Daly recorded 10 kills and had two blocks to power the Lady Panthers to a three-set win over Jacksonville in the final match of the night.

Ridgley led Bullard with 12 assists and four digs, while Fish totaled four aces and six digs.

Julia Frisby came away with five digs and two kills for the winner.