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The third time was not the charm for Kingwood.

The Woodlands defeated the Lady Mustangs 25-16, 25-13, 25-9 on Tuesday night in a Region II-5A quarterfinal match at Porter High School. It was the third meeting between the two teams this year — and the third victory for the No. 1-nationally ranked Lady Highlanders.

“They’re a great team, (Kingwood coach) Ashley (Earhart) is an awesome coach and it was hard to beat a good team three times, especially in one season,” The Woodlands coach Leslie Madison said. “I think regardless of what happened before, anything could have happened here — you know, it’s playoffs. But I do think it was beneficial in that we saw some things we could take advantage of.”

The Lady Highlanders, who are now 41-0, were led by the usual suspects: Courtney Quinn (13 kills and nine digs), Madison McDaniel (12 kills, seven digs), Kelly Quinn (17 digs) and Courtney Eckenrode (39 assists).