DELBARTON - The homestanding Burch Lady Bulldogs survived a tough first round of sectional tournament action to advance to tomorrow night's winner's bracket.

The Lady Bulldogs needed five sets to beat Matewan, 3-2, who had earlier beaten Man, 3-1, in the first match of the night.

Burch Coach Jan Cisco said his team may have been a little rusty. It has been more than a week since the Lady Bulldogs finished their season with a loss to regional foe Buffalo. The Lady Bulldogs also played without the talents of starter Shawnee Branham, who was out due to an unspecified illness.

"This is the first game we've played in over a week," Cisco said. "And, we've got one of our starters out. Nicolle Quinn stepped in and did a good job. Sarah Goble played extremely well. The girls seemed to be a little rusty and didn't capitalize on some things they should have. But, overall, they did well and came back in that last game and really turned it on. The other games they'd let up and then get back into a rhythm. Man has a good team and Matewan has really stepped their program up and it's going to be a good tournament."

Burch won the first set of the match, 25-21, then lost by the same score to the Lady Tigers in the second match.

The Lady Bulldogs had no trouble beating Matewan 25-11 in the third game, but fell behind early in the fourth set and couldn't get out of the hole they'd dug, as the Lady Tigers forced Burch into a fifth and deciding set by winning 25-17.

Shalea Ellis set the tone of the fifth set by scoring an ace on her first serve. Sarah Goble pounded a spike to make it 3-0.

The Lady Bulldogs got the game-winning tip from Kaci Slone to make it 15-9 and to place Burch into the winner's bracket set for Wednesday night at Burch High School.

"We've got some pretty decent girls if they can keep their minds on the game," Matewan Coach Clay Moore said. "There are so many other things we want to do, like look up into the stands to find people. We've just got to concentrate on the game.

"We really would have liked to have won this one. It seems like every year we get into the situation of playing two games in one night. We played four sets against Man and then we had to come back and play five hard games against Burch and Burch is a good team. They do a lot of things well and they don't usually make mistakes. But, you can force them into mistakes. I think some of the things we did tonight forced them into making mistakes. We just got a little tired."

Courtney Runyon served six aces in the Lady Tigers' fourth-set win over Burch. Moore praised her performance.

"She served the ball well," Moore said. "The thing about her is you can call a time out and she'll usually lose her serve, but, tonight, she kept her composure for awhile."

Cisco said Runyon's serves, which were missiles that barely cleared the net, were a problem for his team.

"Courtney Runyon does a good job serving," Cisco said. "She's a good volleyball player."

Burch will face Gilbert in the second match of the night.

Gilbert was a winner over Williamson in the first round of the sectional.

Williamson will also play in the loser's bracket of the tournament on Wednesday.

In the first match of the night, the Man Lady Billies lost their first two sets to the Lady Tigers, 25-22 and 25-18, before rallying in the third game to win 34-32. But, Matewan won the fourth set, 25-20, to advance to the game against Burch.

"We didn't play very well," Man Coach Orlando Washington said. "When you're in a tournament, you have to come with a different mindset, regardless of the circumstances, we lost to an inferior team and we have put ourselves into a hole. We'll see if they can come back with more enthusiasm Wednesday."

The Lady Billies and the Lady Tigers will return to action Wednesday night in the loser's bracket of the double-elimination volleyball tournament.

The first match is set for 6 p.m.