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Power of Progression: Lady Cats continue clawing up tournament standings
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Volleyball tournament season is all about getting better.
Using strictly that metric, Plano Senior must be happy with where it currently stands. The Lady Wildcats opened the season by finishing 13th at the Duncanville Tournament of Champions, moved up to sixth at the Texas Open in Allen and finished out tournament season over the weekend by placing second at the Arlington Invitational.
"You look at those finishes and how we've progressed, and you have to feel good about it," said Teri Minnis, Plano head coach.
Senior Lauren Stahlman led the way as the Defensive Player of the Tournament.
"Lauren has played very, very well all year," Minnis said. "She is rock solid in the back, digging everything up. She is patient and always seems to be in the right place at the right time; it's just as simple as that."
In addition to Stahlman, senior setter Audrey Landry and junior outside hitter Kiley Long garnered all-tournament nods.
"Audrey is the one that runs our offense and she has been doing a really good job by putting up a very hittable ball," Minnis said. "And then Kiley is just a special, special athlete that is capable of putting balls down."
With Kiley, senior Madison Morell and junior Natalie Fazio putting down points and putting up blocks, Stahlman keeping the ball in play and Landry spearheading a 5-1 set, Plano cruised on the opening day. The Lady Wildcats registered sweeps during pool play against Birdville (25-14, 25-15), Mansfield Summit (25-15, 25-12) and Arlington Lamar (25-17, 25-17) before defeating Denton Guyer in the crossover match (25-11, 25-9) to advance to the championship bracket.
"We took care of business on the first day," Minnis said. "We hadn't seen a lot of these teams before so we were focusing more on us, working on our serve-receive passing so we can get closer to the net and have an easier time running the offense."
Plano continued to steamroll opponents Saturday as it opened the championship bracket with a win over Rowlett (25-8, 25-6).
"That's what happens when you play low-error ball," Minnis said.
A fifth straight sweep without allowing an opponent to reach the 20s put Plano into the quarterfinals against McKinney Boyd, which beat the Lady Wildcats in the fifth-place match of the Texas Open a weekend prior.
The two are also part of the new District 10-5A.
"Any time you play a district opponent in non-district it is very emotional and intense," Minnis said. "This match definitely was for us since it was our first big match of the tournament. Plus the girls really wanted this match because we played Boyd at the last tournament and were frustrated that errors cost us that match."
No such fate would befall Plano this time.
The match between two of the district favorites was back and forth with the Lady Wildcats eventually prevailing (26-24, 22-25, 25-20). Though stylistically different, the semifinals featured similar drama with Plano stretched to the limit in a win over Arlington (25-27, 25-18, 25-18).
"Matches like the one against Boyd take a toll on your mental and physical state," Minnis said. "We had a tough first set with Arlington but played a lot cleaner after that."
That victory meant a spot in the finals and another match against Southlake Carroll.
This was the fourth matchup of the season between the Lady Dragons and Lady Wildcats with the former winning in Duncanville and Allen while the latter won a home non-district match. Saturday's contest would belong to the No. 1 Class 5A team in the state as Carroll won the Arlington Invitational Championship (25-22, 27-25).
"I've said all along that we can compete with the top-caliber teams," Minnis said. "Our team and Southlake are very evenly matched; it was just a couple of errors late that cost us."
With a move to a six-team district, Plano continues non-district the next couple weeks with a slate of former 8-5A mates (Flower Mound, Lewisville and Flower Mound Marcus) that begins with a home match at 7 p.m. Friday against the Lady Jaguars.
"Everyone played well this weekend and our kids feel confident right now, so obviously that's a good thing," Minnis said. "But we have to keep building on that."
The Lady Wildcats open 10-5A play Sept. 21 when they host McKinney.
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