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Volleyball: Teams take to court in Allen and Lewisville for pre-district tourneys
BY JUSTIN THOMAS, Jthomas@acnpapers.com
With the district volleyball season rapidly approaching, many teams are using the remaining few weeks as a chance to play as many matches as possible by competing in non-district tournaments.
That was the case Thursday, Friday and Saturday as teams headed to Allen for the Texas Open and to Lewisville for a pre-district tournament the Farmers co-hosted with The Colony.
In Allen, many local teams found success. But the class of the tournament proved to be Lucas Lovejoy of Class 4A, which ran a gauntlet defeating 5A powerhouses Richardson Pearce, Hebron and Marcus in consecutive matches to win the championship.
The Lady Marauders, who previously finished third in the Duncanville Tournament, continued their non-district success by finishing runner-up.
Marcus went 3-0 in pool play with wins over Katy Seven Lakes, Bishop Lynch and Mesquite Horn before topping Duncanville to advance to the championship bracket.
In bracket play, Marcus outlasted future 8-5A foe Allen, 25-13, 19-25, 25-21; before sweeping Lake Highlands, 25-21, 28-26 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, the Lady Marauders got a look at a future district opponent defeating West, 25-13, 19-25, 25-14. However, the squad’s run came to an end in the finals against Lovejoy, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20.
Hebron, meanwhile, followed its championship in Grapevine by taking third in Allen.
Like Marcus, Hebron advanced through group play unscathed, sweeping Frisco Centennial, 25-21, 25-15; Colleyville Heritage, 25-21, 25-13 and Rowlett, 25-14, 25-23. The Hawks followed with a 25-10, 25-15 defeat of Connally to get to the championship bracket, where the team earned consecutive wins against McKinney Boyd, 25-16, 25-13 and Southlake Carroll, 17-25, 25-22, 25-12. Lovejoy got the best of Hebron in the semifinals, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, but the Hawks rebounded to take third by sweeping West, 25-15, 25-19.
“We played pretty well,” said Karin Keeney, Hebron coach. “I’m happy about a few things but we still have a lot to work on such as consistency and efficiency in our ball control.”
But Keeney believes the tough competition Hebron is facing will only help in the long run.
“This is why we come to these tournaments,” she said. “We want to play the toughest teams to get the kids ready. We’re also getting to see some opponents from our district but it isn’t really the same as district play. You’re playing multiple matches in the same day and are running from here and there. It’s just not the same as being fresh and ready for a district match on a Tuesday of Friday.”
Flower Mound got out to a tough start going 1-2 in pool play by dropping matches against Lovejoy and McKinney Boyd and defeating Creekview, 25-13, 25-10.
But the Lady Jaguars earned their way into the championship bracket with a win against Plano Senior, 25-22, 25-15. After moving to the consolation bracket following a loss against West, Flower Mound was eliminated by Sachse.
Former 6-5A and current 5-5A representatives Coppell and Southlake Carroll qualified for the championship bracket as well.
The Lady Dragons finished first in their pool after winning matches against Lake Highlands, Plano East and Lubbock Coronado. Carroll moved to the championship bracket making short work of Cedar Hill, 25-9, 25-19 before sweeping Seven Lakes, 25-18, 25-15. Carroll couldn’t slow down Hebron, however, falling in three games to move to the silver bracket, where they were defeated by Pearce.
Coppell, meanwhile, got the best of McKinney North and John Paul II in pool play but finished second after dropping a match against Arlington Martin. The Cowgirls outlasted Bishop Lynch, 25-15, 22-25, 25-21 to move to the championship bracket. Coppell cruised past Sachse in the first round, 25-21, 25-18 but their run ended with a loss in the quarterfinals against West, 25-21, 22-25, 25-10. The Cowgirls had previously defeated West by sweep in the Duncanville Tournament.
The loss against West shifted the Cowgirls to the silver bracket, where they finished second after winning against Lake Highlands but falling to Pearce.
“We made progress in our composure on the court,” said Sherri Hankins, Coppell coach in an e-mail to the Gazette, “but we’re still having trouble executing our offense due to service receive errors. We also need to have better shot selection.”
Tournament leaders for the Cowgirls were Erica Bohannon with 46 kills, Cassidy Pickrell with 37 kills, and Chandler Hatton and Megan Kennedy with 32 kills each, including a .284 hit efficiency for Hatton.
Kennedy added 10 aces, while Chiaka Ogbogu chipped in 21 block kills. Bear Bass was the squad leader with 11 aces and 86 assists, just ahead of Sarah Arnold (84 assists), while Kristin Dickerson led the defensive game with 83 digs.
Also competing in Allen were the Lady Mustangs. Creekview was in the challenger bracket after finishing fourth in their pool behind Lovejoy, Flower Mound and Boyd and dropping a match against Arlington Martin.
After falling against Colleyville Heritage in the first round of the challenger bracket, the Lady Mustangs notched their first victory of the weekend by topping Round Rock McNeil, 25-15, 25-21. But the team’s run came to an end one round later with a loss against Centennial, 26-24, 22-25, 25-17. The Lady Titans went on to win the challenger bracket.
In Lewisville, the Lady Cougars proved to be the class of the tournament despite competing against multiple 5A squads. The Colony, of District 5-4A, cruised to first in the Gold Division without so much as dropping a set during the tournament.
In the finals, the Lady Cougars topped Grapevine, 25-19, 25-23, 26-24 before defeating Wylie, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20.
The Colony also swept through pool play with ease getting past North Forney on Thursday, 25-10, 25-7 before pasting Irving Nimitz, 25-7, 25-17. The team followed with wins Friday over Frisco, 25-15, 25-17; Woodrow Wilson, 25-13, 25-6 and North Mesquite, 25-17, 25-16.
“We played very well and were really just focusing on us,” said Terri Harrod, The Colony coach. “Our biggest challenge was against North Mesquite because they have a great middle blocker (Texas commit Katherine Bell). But we handled her very well. We were ready to compete with her and did that.”
The Colony’s Alex Hicks was named the tournament’s MVP, while Allie Chicoine earned first-team honors. Harrod added that Allie Brak and Kristan Aduddell also performed very well despite not garnering all-tournament honors.
Lewisville, meanwhile, continued with a pair of wins Saturday to finish as champion of the bronze division following a 3-2 mark in pool play Thursday and Friday.
Lewisville defeated Frisco, 25-21, 25-16, 23-25, 25-10 and sealed up first by topping Naaman Forest, 25-23, 26-24, 25-20.
“We would have liked to reach the silver bracket,” said Jay Samide, Lewisville coach, “and I thought we could have played better on Friday. We just didn’t do a great job of finishing out matches. But we played better Saturday and I was proud of the girls for falling behind in the first game against Naaman Forest but battling back to win.”
Samide added Kristyn Nicholson did a solid job setting, while Brandi Nickelson and Tami Leranth led the attack and Ashley Rose performed well on defense.
Carrollton’s Newman Smith and R.L. Turner were also competing in the tourney.
The Lady Trojans finished as champion of the blue bracket after winning matches Saturday over Royse City, 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 and Irving, 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-14.
In pool play, Smith came up short Thursday against Naaman Forest, 25-21, 21-25, 25-8 and Grapevine, 25-11, 25-9 but bounced back Friday with wins over Irving, 25-20, 25-19; West Mesquite, 25-10, 25-11 and Ranchview, 25-16, 25-17.
In the win against the Lady Bulldogs, Ceci Valadez and Melanie Zimmerman posted 10 digs a piece. Allison Crawford led the way with 10 kills with Maddie Holden chipping in seven, while Jenna Walden and Haley Morris combined for nine blocks.
Turner, meanwhile, placed second in the white division after splitting matches Saturday. The Lady Lions came up short against Ranchview but rallied to win against West Mesquite, 23-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-12.
In pool play, the Lady Lions dropped both of their matches Thursday falling against Denton, 25-6, 25-22 and to North Mesquite, 25-12, 25-15. On Friday, Turner won against North Forney, 25-20, 25-17 before suffering defeats against Royse City and Garland.
“We competed against three evenly-matched teams,” said Jennifer Murczek, in an e-mail to the Leader, “and were victorious against North Forney. And after a shaky start, we played much better in the game 2 against Denton but unfortunately we fell short. We also faced a strong team in North Mesquite and fought hard for every point. We were determined to compete the entire match.”
Against North Forney, Melissa Carrillo led with five kills and two aces.
Texas Open (at Allen)
Champion: Lovejoy
Runner-up: Marcus
Third Place: Hebron
Fourth Place: Plano West
Silver Champion: JJ Pearce
Bronze Champion: Arlington Martin
Consolation Champion: Frisco Centennial
Challenge Champion: Bishop Lynch
MVP: Andie Malloy, Lovejoy
All-Tournament Team
Ebony Nwanebu, Lovejoy
Natalie Puckett, Lovejoy
Lauren Douglass, Marcus
Regan McGuire, Marcus
Laura Jones, Plano West
Tiffany Baker, Hebron
Brittany Sample, Hebron
Caitlyn Nolan, Southlake Carroll
Meagan Kennedy, Coppell
Katie O’Brien, JJ Pearce
Matalee Reed, Lake Highlands
Chris Buchanan, Plano West (All-Tournament Manager)
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