Valley Sports ReportCANDOR - Last year, Tioga upended Candor in a one-game playoff to advance to the Class D finals.
Tuesday night, the tables were turned on the third-seeded Lady Tigers as defending state champion, second-seeded Bainbridge-Guilford won a one-game playoff to close out Class D semi-final pool play, and end Tioga's season.
Tioga swept fourth-seed Union Springs by scores of 25-17 and 25-13, but were 1-3 against unbeaten top-seed Candor.
"We played OK, not consistent," said longtime Tioga coach Des Ford. "We were up and down."
Ford said her team was too inconsistent to beat the likes of Candor and B-G.
"You have to maintain consistency and we don't maintain consistency," she said. "We didn't pass well to the setters. We were out of system constantly. Against teams like this you can't pass that way."
B-G topped Tioga 25-14 in the first game of pool play, but the Lady Tigers bounced back with a 25-15 win.
Candor, which went 6-0 in pool play, topped Tioga 25-13 and 25-18, then swept B-G by scores of 25-9 and 25-23 to leave both Tioga and B-G at 3-3 in pool play.
In the one-game playoff, B-G pulled out a 25-18 decision over Tioga to advance to the Class D title game.
The loss marks the first time since 2009 that Tioga will not play for a Section IV title.
"There will be another team next year, and we'll make another run at it," Ford said.
Ford believes as of now, she'll be back for a 38th season.
"I'll be back for another season. I still enjoy what I do."
"I know I'm definitely not ready to be done, because this past year in the last six months I've walked in the hallways on a weekend," said Ford. "No one's there and I'm walking down the hallway and I stop and I think, this is the last time I walk in these halls and it was a very eerie feeling for me, very unsettling, and I knew the two times (it happened), I'm not ready to go.
"But, then again, in the spring something could happen," she added. "You don't know. You never know, but today, Im not done. I still enjoy teaching. I still enjoy coaching."
Candor will square off with B-G in the Class D Championship Saturday at noon at Corning High School.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga's Chloe Bellis (2) and Emme Hall (6). ... PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAVID ALLIGER "" TRAVELING PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHY.
