MALAKOFF — Hallsville's volleyball team may not have faced its best opponent of this season on Thursday, but there's a good chance it was the most balanced.

The team was Hewitt Midway, which also ended Hallsville's season with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-23 decision in a Class 4A area playoff at Malakoff High School's Tiger Gymnasium. Hallsville coach Cheryl Bell said Midway is a very good team, but is not sure if Midway is better than opposition such as Carthage or 40-0 Class 2A juggernaut White Oak.

"Midway was just solid. They were good all-around," Bell said. "We couldn't put it together too. I can't put finger on it."

Hallsville ends its season ends at 33-8. Midway (35-13) will face Red Oak or Lindale in a Class 4A Region II quarterfinal next week with the time, date and site to be determined. Red Oak and Lindale meet in an area playoff at 2 p.m. Saturday at Wills Point High School.

Bell said her team struggled in two key stretches in games one and two. In game one, six straight service points, including three aces, by Emilie Fogleman gave Midway a 17-8 lead and command of the game. In game two, Midway used a 7-1 run to pull ahead 18-12 and wasn't seriously threatened again.

Game three was closer, and Hallsville had a 20-16 lead, but two kills by Breanne Snyder started a 9-3 run to end the match. Jazzmin Babers and Tasha Babers had back-to-back kills for Midway after the score was tied at 23-23.

Bell said it's difficult to figure out what happened in game one and two stretches.

"We didn't execute at those times, but it wasn't one thing we did wrong," Bell said. "We would have a good pass, but we would hit it into the net. We would serve receive a ball well, but we would have a bad pass."

Midway did not have a significant edge in any statistics except serve efficiency. Midway had just one service error to seven for Hallsville.

Midway coach Janet Angell said she was pleased with her team's fundamentals, which they had to lean on almost out of necessity.

"We didn't get to scout Hallsville on Tuesday because our scout's car broke down," Angell said. "We attacked from the right side better because of Tasha Babers."

Tasha Babers had eight kills, but Snyder and Jazzmin Babers led Midway with 12 kills each. Fogleman had 16 assists while Kelley Schaeler had 14 assists.

Kaci Jackson led Hallsville with 12 kills while Elizabeth Daily had a match-high 29 assists. Morgan Peck had 19 digs for the Ladycats while Brianna Young had seven blocks in her final match for Hallsville.

It was also the final match at Hallsville for Stephanie Bayne, who had seven kills and five digs. While Bell said she was definitely miss Bayne and Young, the large number of returning players shows promise to Bell and Bayne.

"I would tell the returning players to play their best every day," Bayne said. "They can go really far in the future, possibly state."

Bell said before that quest, she wants her returning players to step away from volleyball and take a moment for reflection.

"I'm not touching a volleyball until after the Christmas holidays. I want them to get away. Get involved with basketball, track, softball," Bell said. "This job is over, and it's a job well done."

A moment of silence was held before the match in honor those killed and wounded by a gunman at Fort Hood on Thursday.

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Game 1

Snyder had five kills, five digs and two blocks for Midway. Young had a big game at the net for Hallsville with six blocks while Daily had seven assists.

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Game 2

Jazzmin Babers had five kills while Schaeler and Fogleman combined for 11 assists. Jackson had five kills for Hallsville while Daily had eight had eight assists.

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Game 3

Jazzmin Babers and Snyder had five kills each while Schaeler had three kills, five assists and five blocks. Jackson had five kills, Daily had 14 assists and Peck had 11 digs.