The Final Countdown: PCA advances to title match against district foe

Nerves often strike a team that has never been to state before and that was the case Friday afternoon when Prestonwood Christian Academy faced Houston St. Agnes in the TAPPS 5A State Volleyball Semifinals.

"Oh yeah, we were quite nervous in that first game," said Becky O'Neal, Prestonwood head coach. "You could see it all over court."

Those nerves cost the Lady Lions the opening set, but wouldn't cost the team a shot at its first state title in seven years as Prestonwood settled down and plowed past St. Agnes (22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-18) for a trip to Saturday's finals.

"This was a tough match," O'Neal said. "St. Agnes has a couple of middles that were tall, athletic and blocking us like crazy early on, but we needed a challenge like that. We want to win a state title and to do that you have to get past that first match; we were able to do that and get better prepared for the finals in the process."

On the strength of its strong play in the middle, St. Agnes took Game 1, 25-22.

The remainder of the match wasn't as close with the Lady Lions winning three sets and the Lady Tigers playing only one point in the 20s.

"We felt like we were the better team," O'Neal said. "So after that first game we told the girls to calm down and have fun. Being at state is supposed to be fun and a lot of times that gets lost because of all the pressure involved. We kind of just took a deep breath and said, 'we can do this.'"

Leading the Prestonwood comeback was a pair of familiar faces in senior Katie Staiger and junior Ashley Morgan.

"Those two were digging well and swinging well," O'Neal said.

Staiger and Morgan are plenty used to playoff pressure as the former posted the most kills in Tuesday's win over defending state champ Trinity Christian Academy and the latter posted the match-winning termination. Joining those veterans in coming up clutch Friday was freshman Alexa Lehman. Lehman saw heavy rotation at middle blocker due to the absence of junior Catherine Cranston, who was injured in practice Wednesday.

"We already knew that Alexa was a talented kid," O'Neal said, "but she just rocked and rolled for us today; she was amazing."

With offensive firepower leading to the most lopsided score of the match in Game 2, 25-14, Prestonwood leaned on its speed advantage to take Game 3, 25-20.

"We have such an athletic, quick team," O'Neal said. "And when we are running our offense correctly it can make even good teams look bad."

More of the same was on display in Game 4 as St. Agnes' size advantage was counteracted with the trio of Staiger, Morgan and Lehman while Prestonwood's quickness edge remained apparent in a 25-18 win that secured a spot in the state finals for the Lady Lions.

"Of course there were lulls for a couple points here and there," O'Neal said, "but we were really rolling in Games 2, 3 and 4."

Prestonwood still has one more match to win to capture its fourth state title (2003, 2004, 2005) and will have to beat a familiar foe as it faces Bishop Lynch in the TAPPS 5A Finals at 2 p.m. Saturday from Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio. The Lady Lions and Lady Friars split the TAPPS 1-5A Title and season series with Prestonwood winning the last match on Oct. 18 via sweep.

"We'll be facing a team that wants to win state, but is probably also seeking a little revenge, so it should be an all-out crazy match," O'Neal said. "But I believe in our team. If we keep playing the way we've been playing, I know we can do this."

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