SULPHUR — Sulphur survived a roller coaster of a match to beat rival Barbe in four sets to stay in the Division I, District 2 title race.

The Tors (19-8, 3-1) won 25-22, 25-22, 16-25, 25-23 and trail district leaders Sam Houston, Acadiana by a half game.

“I am really proud of us,” Sulphur head coach Bridget Coppels said. “No matter how low it ever got or how high it ever got, we figured out a way to win this match. I am really proud of my kids for that.”

Junior Finli Dennis led Sulphur with 21 kills, plus two aces in the second set. Keelie Seaford added 11 kills and 27 assists. Kennedy Dougherty had 15 digs, and Kendall Judge and Claire Weidner had six kills apiece.

“Finli is having a wonderful junior campaign,” Coppels said. “She will tell you, just like I am telling you, you don’t get kills unless you have really good passes and really good set.

“Right now it is taking everyone to get this done. I am proud of our defense and passing. Keelie setting, she is phenomenal.”

Barbe (12-19, 0-5) went into the game with a three-game win streak and stayed close through the first two sets before dominating the third. Areil Williams set the tone early with three kills and a block, while McKenzie Davis added three kills midway through the set to help the Bucs build up a 16-6 lead. Williams finished with eight kills and eight blocks, and Sarah Davis added 10 kills. Ann Kat Barrett had 27 digs and Sadie Guillory finished with 27 assists.

“We came out strong,” Barbe head coach Katie Franks said. “I thought our serve-receive and passing was doing really well, and we were able to run an offense out of it.

“We were getting some blocks here and there. That is what kept us on a roll in that game. This weekend, we found our energy and won again. We just have to come out with intensity and know that we are good and we can beat teams and have that confidence.”

Sulphur opened the fourth set with a 3-1 lead, but the Bucs came back to take a 5-3 lead on a kill by David from the back row. The Tors had a threepoint lead at one point, but the Bucs battled back again to tie the score at 21-21 on an ace by Barrett.

“We need to play to win at the end,” Franks said. “We had really good rallies throughout the game.

“We were hustling the whole game. I think we got timid at the net instead of swinging aggressively towards the end. At that point, we were just trying to keep the ball in play. That is what we are working on — limiting our errors. I think we played hard, and it was a hardfought game tonight.”

Sulphur took back the lead for good on backto-back aces by Kyndall Trahan.

“I really liked how gritty we were,” Coppels said. “We were diving on the ground to get balls. We were diving into the bleachers to get balls, and we were just finding a way to score, whether it was sometimes bumps, tips or really hard hits. We wanted to grind out and win that set.”