Lady Rattlers begin final push to clinch playoff spot

Starting 7-2 in district play, San Marcos has its best record since 2017 when it slated seven wins in the first 10 games. But it only gets tougher on the road to the playoffs.

The Lady Rattlers are slated to play the top two teams in District 26-6A, including No. 20 Lake Travis (12-0, 8-0 district), who’s undefeated this season and hasn’t finished any less than second in its league in three years. One of the overlooked notes coming into this match is that San Marcos was hit with a 14-day quarantine in the middle of the season, forcing it to reschedule multiple games. The team has now played four games in five days which helped it get back into a rhythm quickly.

San Marcos only had two practices before edging out Buda Hays in five sets last Tuesday. Now with more games under its belt, the players are starting to hit their stride heading into the playoff push.

“I think the girls responded really well. They came back faster than I thought. To play Hays in a five-set match and to grind that out and then to play, (Austin) Akins on Friday and then (Austin) Bowie on Saturday and Del Valle on Saturday, it was four matches we needed to win,” head coach Jared Te’o said. “I'm really proud of how they responded, so I didn't think we'd hit our stride that fast, but I'm glad they did because we needed to. Like if we didn't, we would be out of playoff contention right now.”

The Cavaliers have only dropped one set this season and head coach Jared Te’o says this team doesn’t have a weakness on film. He described it as a little disheartening because they don’t have an area you can attack them from and having the best player in the district — senior outside hitter Jamison Wheeler — helps. 

But senior libero Julia Antu believes the pressure is on Lake Travis because they are the underdogs coming in. 

“Honestly, (we’re) going in with, like, the idea of no pressure so it's just fun, and we just compete and play our game like and just have fun,” Antu said.

Lake Travis is a challenge in itself but then the Rattlers have a two game series against Austin Westlake (9-3, 5-2), who currently sits in fourth place. With Westlake currently in quarantine, they share many similarities with San Marcos. These finals games could shake the standings up and it’s going to test this team. 

“That’s the big key for us, is just getting the kids to compete whenever another team is playing good volleyball,” Te’o said. “So, hopefully we can get a little better but it's going to be a mental test the next couple of weeks just for confidence because it's hard to do so great and then play a team like Lake Travis, which could be really difficult. So hopefully the kids can stay positive.”

Looking ahead to the playoffs, if all goes as planned, the players already have an idea of who their bi-district opponent may be to start the postseason. But it doesn’t matter this early on because that doesn’t affect what happens on the Rattlers side of the court.

“We will have played the top three teams in our district with Austin High, Westlake and Lake Travis. Lake Travis swept the teams that we are about to play or hopefully we are about to play,” sophomore outside hitter Maggie Walsh said. “I think honestly like, we just have to play our game and focus on the little things and not worry about what's going on the other side of the court.”

The Lady Rattlers host Lake Travis inside the Snake Pit Friday night at 6:30 p.m.