From staff reports
San Marcos — Twenty of the best volleyball teams in the state will converge on San Marcos this weekend as the UIL State Volleyball Championships begin today at Texas State University’s Strahan Coliseum.
Play begins today with the Class 2A and Class 4A semifinals matches and concludes Saturday with the championship games. Class A, 3A and 5A semifinals will be played on Saturday.
In Class 5A, Lake Highlands (45-4) will have a chance to complete a dream season. For Amarillo it will be a chance for the state’s most successful 5A program to add to its legacy by doing something that's never been done. For Austin-Westlake it will be a second straight trip to San Marcos and a chance to complete some unfinished business. For Clear Creek it will be a chance to return glory back to Houston volleyball.
That’s the setting for this weekend’s 5A Final Four. And for the first time in years, there is no clear favorite. Mainly because when these teams faced each other during tournament season, no dominant team emerged. Clear Creek beat Amarillo. Lake Highlands beat Westlake. Amarillo split with Lake Highlands. And on and on.
The semifinals will offer a rematch of the Amarillo-Clear Creek battle at the Pearland Nike Classic, which was won by Clear Creek, and a rematch of the Westlake-Lake Highlands Duncanville semifinal won by Lake Highlands. Both of those early season matches went the distance.
The team that comes away with the title will be the one that can put together two straight days of elite level volleyball, and all four are capable of doing it. Last year, it was Westlake and Amarillo in the state finals with Amarillo taking home the title. The Sandies have a shot at becoming the first ever team to win three straight Class 5A titles.
The 4A Final Four should be just as competitive as Class 5A, if not more so.
The wildcard is Magnolia, which dropped down from 5A this season and knocked off district rival and co-champ Brenham in five, 22-25, 25-14, 18-25, 27-25, 15-7. Magnolia and Brenham split their two district matches this year and Brenham is the team that had San Antonio-Reagan on the ropes at Pearland.
Magnolia lost many of its stars from last year’s team that came within a hair of the 5A state tournament and the 2008 season got off to a rough start with losses to Richardson Pearce, Red Oak, Cy-Woods and Pearland in the first few week. But the initial bumps and bruises paid off.
“I knew that the schedule at the beginning of the season was going to be brutal for this team,” Magnolia coach Terri Johnson said. “We had some younger kids that needed to get that playoff-type experience with competition. When we had 12 losses after the pre-season, we sat down and evaluated the teams that we had lost to at that point. When the players saw that most of them were ranked 5A teams and how close we competed, they were able to take what we had improved on and capitalize on it.”
Then came a wake up call in a district match against Brenham.
“I think losing in four games at Brenham in the second round forced our team to realize that we still had work to do,” Johnson said. “The players renewed their efforts in practice and stepped up our pace and intensity of play.”
They'll need that intensity on Thursday night when they take on Hereford, the TGCA's Texas Girls Coaching top-ranked 4A team, in one 4A semifinal.
Hereford survived the brutal 3-4A battles then knocked off district rivals Dumas in the quarterfinals and Randall in the finals to earn their first trip to San Marcos in six years.
The other semifinal features Highland Park and Lake Travis, another wild card team that has steadily gotten better as the season progressed and earned its state tournament berth with a very impressive sweep of Steele. Highland Park, on the other hand, was our preseason pick to win the 4A title. And after strong showings during tournament season, including a win over Hereford in the Northwest finals, they were the top-ranked 4A team. Then came two losses to district rival Richardson Pearce and a drop in the rankings. Like Magnolia and Hereford, Highland Park had to face their district rivals one more time in the regional finals and this time the Scots came out on top with a four-game winner.
The Class 3A field will be missing a familiar contestant — defending state champion Wimberley. Wimberley fell in the regional semifinals, losing to Brownwood, which makes Lovejoy a big favorite to win this year’s title.
Lovejoy (38-5) meets Caldwell (29-14) in the semifinals, while Bellville (37-7) and Brownwood (32-9) meet in the other 3A semifinal.
In Class 2A, Bushland picked right up where it left off last year when they shocked perennial 2A power Poth in the state finals, and Bushland is the good pick to repeat this season. Bushland (31-12) will meet Pottsboro (36-5) in the semifinals Thursday, while Centerville (45-1) will face Wallis Brazos in the other 2A semifinal.
In Class A, Albany arrives in San Marcos with a perfect 42-0 record and the TGCA’s top ranking. Albany takes on Iola (38-3) at 9 a.m. on Friday, while the other Class A semifinal pits Windthorst (39-3) against Shiner (31-6) at 11 a.m. Friday.
(Scott White of Lonestarvolleyball.com contributed to this article.)
UIL State Volleyball Pairings
UIL State Volleyball Tournament Pairings
at Strahan Coliseum,Texas State University:
Thursday, Nov. 20
Class 2A Semifinals
Centerville (45-1) vs. Wallis Brazos (33-10), 1 p.m.
Pottsboro (36-5) vs. Bushland (31-12), 3 p.m.
Class 4A Semifinals
Hereford (43-3) vs. Magnolia (32-13), 5 p.m.
Highland Park (38-8) vs. Lake Travis (37-9), 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 21
Class A Semifinals
Albany (42-0) vs. Iola (38-3), 9 a.m.
Windthorst (39-3) vs. Shiner (31-6), 11 a.m.
Class 3A Semifinals
Lovejoy (38-5) vs. Caldwell (29-14), 1 p.m.
Bellville (37-7) vs. Brownwood (32-9), 3 p.m.
Class 5A Semifinals
Amarillo (46-3) vs. Clear Creek (41-4), 5 p.m.
Lake Highlands (45-4) vs. Austin Westlake (39-7), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 21
Class A Championship Game, 9 a.m.
Class 2A Championship Game, 11 a.m.
Class 3A Championship Game, 1 p.m.
Class 4A Championship Game, 3 p.m.
Class 5A Championship Game, 5 p.m.
