Everyone’s aware of the world’s seven wonders, but on Friday night at TWU’s Kitty Magee Arena, the Lady Wildcats saw to it that there was an eighth.

Guyer was sending just about every Ryan kill attempt back to Ryan’s side of the net, led by the combination of Megan Corbell and Hannah Ingram.

“Any time Megan’s up [front], we call it ‘The Great Wall of Guyer,’ and I’ll leave it at that,” said senior middle blocker Erin Garvey, who finished with a match-high 12 kills.

Corbell finished with four blocks and four kills and was a spark plug for the Lady Wildcats, leading Guyer to a 25-23, 25-18, 25-13 win over Ryan in Friday’s Class 4A Region I quarterfinal playoff match.

Ingram finished with five blocks, and Garvey and Kaylee Fifer each had three.

“I thought our block came ready to play tonight,” Guyer head coach Jennifer Bramlett said. “Even when they weren’t actually getting a block, they were doing a nice job setting the block so that we could play defense around it.”

Garvey said Corbell is one of those players that makes the Lady Wildcats difficult to beat when she’s on her game.

“Definitely, and she does a good job of always coming ready to play,” Garvey said.

Ryan head coach Cindy Williams said her team’s offensive approach played right into the hands of Guyer’s formidable block.

“I think part of it was that they had us on the outside and we should’ve been spreading the net more and using more offensive options,” Williams said. “We were forcing it to the outside and they were right there ready.”

Ryan was led by Kate Harrison’s seven kills, and Keidra Williams added six.

The opening game of the match was the most hotly contested. Ryan (22-13) took a 5-1 lead before Guyer (34-7) clawed back and was finally able to win thanks to a 5-1 run sparked by two kills each from Ingram and Alyssa Hanley and back-to-back kills by Corbell for the game’s final two points.

Williams said that despite losing such a hard-fought first game, the disappointment didn’t deflate her team for the remainder of the match.

“We’ve been in those situations before and we were in the last match [against Guyer on Oct. 19] when we lost in five games,” she said. “I don’t think it made that much difference. It made us want it more, even though we lost.”

The Lady Wildcats remembered that five-game win that ruined their goal of sweeping every District 5-4A match. They also remembered last year’s regular season finale in which Ryan knocked Guyer out of playoff contention and took what they felt was their spot in the postseason.

“It was nice because they got so excited about messing up our sweeping district, so it was nice to come back and get a sweep,” Bramlett said.

Added Corbell: “I almost went to Ryan High School. It’s really important to us that we win these games because it proves that Guyer is a team that needs to be taken seriously. You know the people [at Ryan]. You hang out with them, and you know the people they hang out with. It’s really hard to not be focused on making sure you did it right when you play them.”

Bramlett said she was most impressed with how her team handled its business after beating Ryan twice already this year and not allowing the Lady Raiders to use that to their advantage.

“I thought we did a good job of not taking them lightly after beating them twice,” she said. “That’s always the biggest worry as a coach, is if you beat them twice they’ll come back and sneak up on you. We did a great job of taking them very seriously.”

Corbell, a junior who’s been in the program since her freshman year, when Guyer didn’t win a game in district play, said she has to pinch herself when she sees her team two wins away from the state tournament.

“Starting freshman year, I was a freshman on varsity, and it was just insane how bad we were,” she said. “Now everything’s turned around for us. Everything’s working out and it’s just amazing.”

The Lady Wildcats advance to play the winner of the Hereford-Dumas match, which is at 2 p.m. today at Amarillo High School, in the regional semifinals.

“It was the biggest win so far,” Garvey said of Friday’s game. “But it’s not the biggest win we’ll have. [Four more] wins will be the biggest win.”

With four more victories, the Lady Wildcats would be crowned 4A state champions, and don’t think they aren’t counting down.

“We’re going all the way, for sure,” Garvey said.

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.