Austin-area Week 9 volleyball: Cedar Ridge rallies for win; player, team of the week named
Homecoming Friday was a big night for Cedar Ridge as the team rallied from a two-sets-to-none deficit and trailed 23-21 in the third set before rallying to beat visiting Stony Point 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-10, 15-13 in a District 25-6A match. Raider seniors Nyla Lewis and Emma Patmon powered the comeback victory by combining for 23 kills and four blocks.
“We were all in, and when we were behind and looking at losing, we looked at each other and said we have to play now,” Lewis said.
Play they did as the Raiders got kills by Lewis and Faith Reynolds together with three Tiger attack errors to win the third set and stave off defeat. Set four saw the host Raiders race to a 21-6 lead and cruise to the win as they got kills from seven different players, with Lewis and Patmon collecting four each in the one-sided win that set up the fifth set.
“The girls were struggling with our serve receive and passing, and Stony Point is a good team, but we ended the third set well and played our system in the fourth set,” Cedar Ridge coach Eric Soto said.
Austin-area Tuesday volleyball roundup: Round Rock sweeps Vista Ridge; 22 other match updates
Cedar Ridge opened the fifth set with a kill by Kylie Cunningham and back-to-back aces by Riley Cox, moving out to a 5-2 lead and forcing a Stony Point timeout. The Tigers rallied on kills by Taliah Angwekwe, Kaitlin Stringer and Addison Deba to close to 10-9 and force a Raider timeout. Cedar Ridge roared to the finish with two kills by Patmon, two by Reynolds, and a kill and a block by Lewis, with Patmon’s fourth kill of the set winning the match.
Patmon closed the night with 14 kills while Reynolds had eight. Stony Point got a strong effort from Kylee Bagley with 11 kills. Deba added 11 kills, Carrie Weston had 10 kills and Angwekwe added 10 for the Tigers.
In other district action, Round Rock served Manor off the court as the Dragons dropped 18 aces while beating the Mustangs 25-8, 25-10, 25-12. Lauren Murphy led the ace parade with five, Gianna DeElena added four, and Cameron Bradley, Elenor Thiel and Lexi Ankerstar had three each. Murphy led the offense with six kills, and Jayda Jenkins added five. Riley Clinton notched 15 assists, and Ankerstar added 18. Westwood defeated Vista Ridge 25-15, 25-12, 25-17. Alex Kriz led the Warriors with 12 kills, and libero Lola Fernandez had 15 digs. Rachel Cai doled out 34 assists, and Trinity Woods had three blocks. Vista Ridge got six kills and two blocks by Kala Mican, and nine assists and nine digs with three kills by Ryleigh Garis. Vandegrift swept McNeil 25-11, 25-14, 25-16 as Mia Avila-Rojas led the Vipers with 10 kills while Ellie Mattox had 34 assists. Ava Salo added seven kills. Jessie Hoang led the defense with 16 digs. Riley Filla had nine kills for the Mavericks while Rachel Ferrera had 15 assists and Bella Ramirez added 16 digs.
Johnson had a huge District 26-6A win Friday as the Jaguars defeated Austin High 25-21, 25-22, 25-21 to clinch at least a tie for the fourth and final league playoff spot. The Jaguars have defeated Austin twice in district and have a 1-0 advantage over Anderson as the teams compete for the final playoff spot behind the state-ranked trio of Lake Travis, Dripping Springs and Westlake. The Chaparrals got 18 kills by Sophia Luo on Friday and 13 kills with four aces by Claire Wernli to beat Anderson 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-16. Reece Emerick had 21 digs while Mallory Weynand added 10 digs and four aces. Cam Shelly had a huge night with 52 assists for Westlake. First-place Lake Travis swept Del Valle 25-12, 25-18, 25-14 as Avery Hamlin had 34 digs. On the attack, Logan Brannan led the Cavs with nine kills, Brooke Davis slammed eight, and Kendall Jurgens had seven. Dripping Springs swept Akins 25-8, 25-11, 25-9 as Riley Certain pounded 13 kills while hitting .722 to lead the Tigers. Taylor Tjelmeland served four aces, and Sydney Lund had 17 assists. Presley Alford added 12 assists.
Talia Tamez had a great week for Ann Richards as the talented senior had 10 kills in a Tuesday sweep of Navarro and came back with a huge night Friday, slamming 24 kills as the Stars beat LASA 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 27-25, 15-3 in District 24-5A play. Isobel Ryther had 27 assists, and Aiyanna Espinoza added 21 digs. Stars coach Meg Brown utilized multiple lineup sets due to player availability before finding the right combinations to go with the hitting of Tamez to claim the victory. Anna Cate Powell had two blocks, and Sally Barnhill tallied three aces. McCallum had a short night Friday as the first-place, state-ranked and undefeated in district Knights beat Navarro 25-6, 25-11, 25-9. Crockett swept Eastside Early College 25-12, 25-20, 25-13.
Cedar Park turned in a strong performance Friday night, beating Glenn 25-17, 25-17, 25-23 in a District a 25-5A matchup, and Timberwolves coach Lori McLaughlin was pleased with the effort of her team.
“We played exceptional volleyball against Glenn,” McLaughlin said, "which we needed rolling into next week. Super proud of them and their efforts.”
Cedar Park freshman Joy Udoye had 13 kills with 11 digs, two aces and three blocks, and middle blocker Nia Cummings added 11 in the win. Sophia Bailey hit seven kills, and Sofia Peters finished with five kills. Cummings and Peters added two blocks each. Dylan Gilkey had 35 assists. Callie Krueger had 16 digs, and Penny Moreno notched a pair of aces.
Morgan Poulain had nine kills and a block as Liberty Hill beat Lehman 25-9, 25-11, 25-4. Carsen Glenn had 22 assists and five aces in the win. Hays beat Leander in a match that saw the Hawks trail 1-0 and 2-1 in sets before winning 23-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-16, 15-8. Madi Disu led Hays with 11 kills, and Makayla White and Megan Disu added nine kills each. Lusia Langi notched eight kills. Neela Castillo handed out 21 assists, and Bella Briceno had 17 digs. Rouse blasted Lockhart 25-6, 25-2, 25-10 Friday as Emma Owens notched 14 assists while Jadyn Wilgus had eight kills. Naara Tanco tallied seven kills and Karley Black added five more in the win.
Georgetown continues unbeaten in District 23-5A play as the state-ranked Eagles swept Pflugerville 25-7, 25-18, 25-16 as Kate Stengle had 12 kills and seven assists while Addison Gaido had eight kills. Claire Mitchell added six kills and two blocks while Issabella Casanova had 16 assists. Karsyn Hamons had nine digs while Alexis Flora and Casanova had eight digs each. Hannah Diaz had nine kills and an ace for the Panthers while Izzy Cervantes notched 14 assists and Sophia Montenegro had 15 digs. Connally beat Elgin 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20 as Natalie Johnson led the Cougars with 14 kills and five blocks while Ellie Castillo had 38 assists. Sophia Alirez finished with 20 digs while serving four aces for Connally. East View raced past Cedar Creek 25-14, 25-10, 25-15 while Hendrickson beat Bastrop 25-19, 25-18, 25-12. Kyra Dove had 10 kills and four blocks for Hendrickson while Jordan Flores had 15 digs and Morgan Warren collected 28 assists with four aces in the win. Laicey Sullivent led Bastrop with 10 kills and 13 digs while setter Fallon Hall had 21 assists and served two aces.
Weiss jetted past Copperas Cove as the Wolves won 25-16, 25-23, 25-14 to improve to second in District 12-6A. Caylee Mejia led Weiss with 23 kills and 10 digs while Sara Randall added 13 kills and setter Takyla Brown had 37 assists. Ashley Goes led the defense with 12 digs. Wimberley fell for the second time to District 27-4A leader San Antonio Davenport 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22 despite 11 kills, a block and two aces by Laney Hennessee and 20 assists with 18 digs by Jesse Weeks. La Grange swept Smithville 25-14, 25-14, 25-16 while Caldwell swept Achieve and Taylor swept New Tech.
Gateway Prep edged Lago Vista in five sets, while Burnet beat Jarrell 25-16, 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-10 to remain one match ahead of Gateway Prep in the district standings. Lampasas beat Marble Falls 28-26, 12-25, 25-22, 25-20. Round Rock Christian Academy won its 20th straight match by beating Marble Falls Faith Academy 25-9, 25-7, 25-8. Crusader setter Reagan Sawyer picked up her 1,000th assist of the season. Sawyer had 30 assists, Rose Matlock served 13 aces, Savannah Johnson had 10 kills, and Emily Millikan and Ryann Holley had eight kills apiece. Kelli Northup served five aces. Brentwood Christian swept San Antonio Holy Cross 25-18. 25-14, 25-17.
Austin-area Week 8 volleyball: Vista Ridge surging; player, team of the week named
Player of the week
Mora Mooney, junior, St. Michael’s Academy: The 5-foot-11 outside hitter led the Crusaders to a pair of wins last week as they defeated Regents 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 and St. Dominic Savio 25-10, 25-10, 25-14. Mooney had 18 kills while hitting .471 in the win over Regents and then hit .778 with seven kills in the sweep of Savio. The junior has 363 kills on the season with 288 digs for the Crusaders, who are 22-15 overall with six consecutive district wins.
Team of the week
Rouse: Jacob Thompson’s Raiders were the preseason No. 2 team in the state, and with a pair of sweeps last week they have won 14 straight and are back up to that spot in the state poll with a 31-8 overall record. Rouse beat Hays 25-11, 25-6, 25-11 and then swept Lockhart 25-6, 25-2, 25-10. Kayla Lopez had 11 kills, Naara Tanco added nine and Tabitha Allen slammed eight while Savannah Skopal had 31 assists against Hays. Emma Owens set 14 assists while Jadyn Wilgus had eight kills, Tanco added seven and Karley Black chipped in five in the win over Lockhart.
State polls
Rouse is Central Texas' highest-ranked team in the Texas Girls Coaches Association poll as the Raiders remain No. 2 in Class 5A behind Barbers Hill. Lake Travis moved up a spot to No. 5 in the Class 6A poll, while Thrall is No. 6 in Class 2A. Dripping Springs is up to No. 11 in Class 6A. Other Austin-area schools ranked in the Top 25 are Liberty Hill (No. 11 in 5A), Johnson City LBJ (No. 15 in 2A), Giddings (No. 17 in 4A), Burnet (No. 19 in 4A), McCallum (No. 21 in Class 5A) and Georgetown (No. 23 in Class 5A). In Class 6A, Westlake moved up a spot to No. 22 and Round Rock is No. 25.
Matches to watch
Tuesday
Lago Vista at Burnet, 6 p.m.
Cedar Creek at Connally, 6:30 p.m.
Johnson at Lake Travis, 6:30 p.m.
Liberty Hill at Cedar Park, 6:30 p.m.
Round Rock at Westwood, 6:30 p.m.
LASA at McCallum, 7:30 p.m.
Fab Fives
Class 6A
1. Lake Travis 31-10
2. Dripping Springs 33-10
3. Westlake 30-11
4. Round Rock 27-11
5. Westwood 23-19
Class 5A
1. Rouse 31-8
2. Liberty Hill 33-8
3. McCallum 23-13
4. Georgetown 23-16
5. Hendrickson 26-11
Class 4A and others
1. Round Rock Christian 36-4
2. Giddings 24-14
3. Thrall 22-13
4. Brentwood Christian 35-7-1
5. Johnson City LBJ 26-10
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Cedar Ridge defeats Stony Point in key District 25-6A volleyball match
