Archives > Sports > Schools
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Best of 2011: Lady Broncos make first state finals appearance
By Scott White, Special to the Courier-Gazette
SAN MARCOS -- A couple hours after her former team, Lake Travis, capped a perfect 50-0 season to win their second straight Class 4A State Title, Coppell (42-8) head coach Julie Green was hoisting the Class 5A State Championship trophy after her Cowgirls knocked off McKinney Boyd (45-7) in a shootout Saturday night (25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 25-19).
Green becomes the first coach in Texas state volleyball history to win titles in back-to-back seasons at different schools.
“There's no comparison,” Green said. “Each championship is different, each group of girls is different, but this one is very special. I'm so proud of this team.”
"It feels incredible," Holst said. "We never gave up."
Junior Chiaka Ogbogu added five blocks and 10 kills while Coppell junior Erica Bohannon celebrated her birthday with 11 kills, several coming late when Boyd was threatening to force a fifth set. Both were named to the all-tournament team.
"I don't even know what to say, this is just incredible," Bohannon said.
The championship was a classic matchup of size versus speed, where victory comes down to the smallest of edges. This titanic struggle was no different.
The loss ended a dream season for Boyd. The Lady Broncos, which defeated Houston Cypress Falls in four sets in Friday’s semifinals, were in the state finals in only their sixth varsity season. With the exception of Mollett, who unloaded a match-high 27 kills and was named to the all-tournament, Boyd was continually stymied by Coppell’s size and frontline strength in the first, second and fourth sets.
The first set was a true shootout, with both teams trading highlight blasts and leads.
At 22-22, however, Coppell reeled off three straight points on kills by junior Cassidy Pickrell and back-to-back shots by Ogbogu.
The Cowgirls started strong in Game 2 behind Bohannon, Mollett and Holst, racing to a 20-13 then fighting off a late attempt at a rally by Mollett to go up 2-0.
Boyd was far from buried though as Mollett and Darling began working the lines and deep corners to avoid the Coppell block.
The strategy worked as Mollett and senior Ally Cobb sparked a 4-0 run that put Boyd up 15-11. They expanded the margin to 18-12, but Holst led a Coppell rally that pulled the Cowgirls within 19-17. From there, junior Krista Bukovec, junior Brantlee Reid and Mollett took over to lead a 6-3 closing run that pulled Boyd within 2-1.
Boyd began the fourth set attacking across the front, which again allowed the Coppell block to influence the ball and enabled the Cowgirls to get into their offense and open up a 5-3 lead.
Boyd then went back to weakside attacks and back-to-back blasts by Darling pulled them even at 6-6.
The teams began trading points until a couple of Coppell blocks and a rocket by Bohannon opened an 11-8 Cowgirls lead. A blast by Darling and ace from Reid pulled Boyd back within 11-10. Again the teams began trading points, until a couple of Holst kills put Coppell up 23-19. Ogbogu closed it out with back-to-back kills from the middle and the Cowgirls, who beat San Antonio Johnson in five sets in Friday’s semifinals, had struck gold.
In addition to Mollett's 27 kills, Darling added nine for Boyd while Reid had 34 assists for the Lady Broncos.
“At the start of the season, I told this team that the only acceptable goal was a state championship," Green said. "We had a few struggles during the season, but the key is to be peaking at the right time and these girls stepped up when they needed to."
Class 5A State Championship Statistics
Boyd
Kills: Megan Mollett-27, Drew Darling-9, Brantlee Reid-6, Emma Meyer-4, Ally Cobb-3, Krista Bukovec-2, Kelly Koop-1, Caitlyn Mills-1
Assists: Reid 34, Brittany Phelan-9, Darling-5, Bukovec-2, Meyer-1, Mollett-1, Kaley Seaber-1
Aces: Bukovec-1, Reid-1, Seaber-1
Digs: Seaber-20, Darling-13, Mollett-9, Cobb-8, Reid-7, Bukovec-6, Meyer-3, Koop-1, Phelan-1
Block solo: Bukovec-1
Block assist: Meyer-4, Cobb-4, Bukovec-2, Darling-1, Mollett-1
Coppell
Kills: Kierra Holst-19, Erika Bohannon-11, Chiaka Ogbogu-10, Cassidy Pickrell-9, Megan Kennedy-5, Kylie Pickrell-1
Assists: Bear Bass-27, Sarah Arnold-18, Bohannon-2, K Pickrell-2
Aces: Holst-2, Bass-1, Arnold-1
Digs: Bass-14, Kennedy-13, Kristin Dickerson-11, C Pickrell-9, Arnold-6, Holst-3, Pickrell-1, Bohannon-1
Block solo: Holst-2
Block assist: Holst-5, Ogbogu-5, Bohannon-5, K Pickrell-3, C Pickrell-2, Kennedy-1
Attendance: 1,594
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: Mckinney Boyd «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
