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Lake, Brook in post-season mix; Creek takes 24-5A volleyball crown
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| Clear Creek's top hitter Megan Pendergast serves up a mean ace. |
By CHUCK HLAVA
It’s as simple as 1-2-3. Make that 1-2-3-4.
With only two matches remaining (not counting Tuesday’s – Oct. 21 – matches in District 24-5A volleyball, the four post-season representatives are carved in stone.
District champion Clear Creek appears headed for an undefeated 24-5A campaign. The Lady Wildcats are currently 11-0. Overall they are 25-4.
Clear Lake (9-2), Dickinson (7-3) and Clear Brook (5-5) are the other post-season teams.
Rounding out the top eight are: 5. Alvin (4-7); 6. Clear Springs (3-8); 7. Brazoswood (2-8); 8. Ball (0-8).
Friday’s matches feature Clear Creek at Alvin; Clear Brook at Clear Springs; Clear Lake at Brazoswood and Dickinson-Ball.
The season ends on Tuesday, Oct. 28, when Lake visits Creek, Alvin at Brook, Springs at Dickinson and Ball at Brazoswood.
The post-season bi-district competition will be Nov. 3-4, followed by area matches Nov. 6-8. Regionals are scheduled for Nov. 10-11 and Nov. 14-15 at Aldine ISD’s Campbell Center.
No. 1 area ranked Clear Creek hasn’t lost a set in its 11 matches and it’s no secret that coach Scott Simonds has the Wildcats poised for a trip to San Marcos, where the state tournament will be held.
Last year the Wildcats seemingly came out of nowhere to make the region final. Now they want one more game to head out of town.
After graduating many of its top players from last year, Clear Lake (22-8) is playing well may hit its stride just when it counts the most. The Lady Falcons had one hiccup last week when they fell in five sets to Clear Brook in a marathon match. The Lady Wolverines rallied from a 1-2 deficit to win 25-22, 31-33, 19-25, 30-28, 15-12. That match can be said to have put the Wolverines into the playoffs.
Simonds is happy with the performance of the Wildcats on the floor. But there is one aspect he didn’t expect.
“To win all the matches 3-0 has even exceeded my expectations,” he said. “To do that takes a ton of mental focus which we’ve been able to have.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.”
Simonds lists several excellent teams in Region III that will be tough to beat in post-season. Among them are Pearland, Katy, Ft. Bend Travis and Stratford. He added that Clear Lake, Dickinson, Deer Park and Memorial have teams that can venture “Deep into the playoffs.”
Clear Lake coach Chanda Eager has been delighted with her team’s results after graduating the bulk of the starters.
“We have one three-year starter returning and a few that had limited minutes on varsity and a few that had major minutes on JV and a few that had very limited minutes on JV,” she said. With that, Eager got a team ready to compete.
“Put the right combination of passion, drive teamwork and team spirit,” she added, “This is what you get….this is what we are. Our ball control and digging is definitely strong this year in comparison to last.”
In trying to improve, Eager cited that the Falcons “Need to be consistent from the outside…..and improve our serving needs to accuracy and difficulty and tighten up our transition game.
“We definitely have the ability to play at a pretty high level.”
In the Brook-Lake match Breanah Bourque led the Falcons with 24 kills. Alex Cassell had 17 for the Wolverines.
Clear Brook coach Meredith Thompson looks for the Wolverines to get better with each game.
“I lost a lot of players last year, but offensively we are stronger in the middle and outside than we were last year, so I have a more balanced offense,” Thompson said.
“We are peaking at the right time to surprise some people in the playoffs.”
At first, the lack of experience and confidence got the Wolverines off to a slow start, she added.
“But I’ve seen that change these past two weeks. I have been telling the girls all season that I thought they had enough talent to win and even finish second. Well, we are finishing fourth but beat the No. 2 team. I think that convinced them of their abilities as a team,” Thompson added.
With only two matches remaining (not counting Tuesday’s – Oct. 21 – matches in District 24-5A volleyball, the four post-season representatives are carved in stone.
District champion Clear Creek appears headed for an undefeated 24-5A campaign. The Lady Wildcats are currently 11-0. Overall they are 25-4.
Clear Lake (9-2), Dickinson (7-3) and Clear Brook (5-5) are the other post-season teams.
Rounding out the top eight are: 5. Alvin (4-7); 6. Clear Springs (3-8); 7. Brazoswood (2-8); 8. Ball (0-8).
Friday’s matches feature Clear Creek at Alvin; Clear Brook at Clear Springs; Clear Lake at Brazoswood and Dickinson-Ball.
The season ends on Tuesday, Oct. 28, when Lake visits Creek, Alvin at Brook, Springs at Dickinson and Ball at Brazoswood.
The post-season bi-district competition will be Nov. 3-4, followed by area matches Nov. 6-8. Regionals are scheduled for Nov. 10-11 and Nov. 14-15 at Aldine ISD’s Campbell Center.
No. 1 area ranked Clear Creek hasn’t lost a set in its 11 matches and it’s no secret that coach Scott Simonds has the Wildcats poised for a trip to San Marcos, where the state tournament will be held.
Last year the Wildcats seemingly came out of nowhere to make the region final. Now they want one more game to head out of town.
After graduating many of its top players from last year, Clear Lake (22-8) is playing well may hit its stride just when it counts the most. The Lady Falcons had one hiccup last week when they fell in five sets to Clear Brook in a marathon match. The Lady Wolverines rallied from a 1-2 deficit to win 25-22, 31-33, 19-25, 30-28, 15-12. That match can be said to have put the Wolverines into the playoffs.
Simonds is happy with the performance of the Wildcats on the floor. But there is one aspect he didn’t expect.
“To win all the matches 3-0 has even exceeded my expectations,” he said. “To do that takes a ton of mental focus which we’ve been able to have.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.”
Simonds lists several excellent teams in Region III that will be tough to beat in post-season. Among them are Pearland, Katy, Ft. Bend Travis and Stratford. He added that Clear Lake, Dickinson, Deer Park and Memorial have teams that can venture “Deep into the playoffs.”
Clear Lake coach Chanda Eager has been delighted with her team’s results after graduating the bulk of the starters.
“We have one three-year starter returning and a few that had limited minutes on varsity and a few that had major minutes on JV and a few that had very limited minutes on JV,” she said. With that, Eager got a team ready to compete.
“Put the right combination of passion, drive teamwork and team spirit,” she added, “This is what you get….this is what we are. Our ball control and digging is definitely strong this year in comparison to last.”
In trying to improve, Eager cited that the Falcons “Need to be consistent from the outside…..and improve our serving needs to accuracy and difficulty and tighten up our transition game.
“We definitely have the ability to play at a pretty high level.”
In the Brook-Lake match Breanah Bourque led the Falcons with 24 kills. Alex Cassell had 17 for the Wolverines.
Clear Brook coach Meredith Thompson looks for the Wolverines to get better with each game.
“I lost a lot of players last year, but offensively we are stronger in the middle and outside than we were last year, so I have a more balanced offense,” Thompson said.
“We are peaking at the right time to surprise some people in the playoffs.”
At first, the lack of experience and confidence got the Wolverines off to a slow start, she added.
“But I’ve seen that change these past two weeks. I have been telling the girls all season that I thought they had enough talent to win and even finish second. Well, we are finishing fourth but beat the No. 2 team. I think that convinced them of their abilities as a team,” Thompson added.
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