Grandview beats Pottsboro, 3-1, for first area title since 2014
Nov. 5—COLLEYVILLE — For the first time since 2014, the Grandview Lady Zebras are area champions.
Grandview beat Pottsboro, 3-1, on Thursday night at Colleyville Heritage High School to capture a Class 3A area title and advance to the Class 3A Region II quarterfinals.
With the exception of a down year in 2019 where Grandview missed the playoffs entirely, the Lady Zebras have experienced a wealth of regular-season success, including several district championships, over the past seven years. But postseason success has been a little harder to come by for the Lady Zebras, who have lost in either area or bi-district every year since 2014. Until now.
"It is a good thing any time you can make it this far, but I can't lie, it's nice to be back [in the regional playoffs]," Grandview Coach Jesilyn Hatch said. "We are excited. It's nice that the hard work that the staff and players have put in over the years is paying off."
Things started slow for Grandview (32-10) on Thursday night against Pottsboro, the No. 3 seed out of District 11-3A, as the Lady Cardinals took a 1-0 lead with a 25-20 win.
Despite the opening-set loss, Hatch said they felt good about things as long as they tightened up some things.
"We just told them that they needed to settle in and be a little more focused on the service line since we had five service errors in the first set," Hatch said. "If we didn't have those errors, and had served as tough as we normally do, they would be out of system more and it would make life easier on our defense."
Settle down Grandview did, as the Lady Zebras tied the match with a 25-19 win in the second. Grandview took a 2-1 lead with a convincing 25-16 win in the third set. And then the Lady Zebras finished it out in four sets with a 25-20 win.
"We settled down and played looser, not nearly as uptight as set 1," Hatch said. "We still missed some serves, but they came after scoring a string of points, so it wasn't as devastating to our momentum."
Leading the way for Grandview was Shelby Martin, who had a big night offensively with 19 kills and also defensively with 18 digs. But Hatch said receiving big contributions from everyone offensively made the difference.
"It was big, it's always big when [Martin] has a good night," Hatch said. "I think the bigger thing, though, was the contribution by our other attackers on the night. We had eight kills from our middles, Faith Goodgion and Madi Cooksey, and eight from Olivia Bauerschlag. When we spread the offense around some it takes a little pressure off Shelby."
Sophomore setter Kenzi Williamson had a big night directing the offense to the tune of 36 assists.
"We sometimes forget she's a sophomore because she plays as if she's got more years of experience," Hatch said. "She has become a more confident setter who is fearless about who she gives the ball to. She has a lot of faith in her hitters."
In addition to the eight kills, Bauerschlag had four service aces.
Hatch said she's grateful for a strong coaching staff to support her, especially after the death of her grandmother last week.
"I can't say enough about my assistant coaches, Lerin Roberts and Angie Jarrell," she said. "Last week was very emotional for me with losing my grandmother, but to have people surrounding me that I can trust to take control and handle the tiebreaker match vs. Maypearl is amazing. And a big thank you to [Athletic Director] Ryan Ebner and [Girls Athletic Coordinator] Tyler Adams for helping me find and hire quality staff."
Up next for Grandview is No. 9-ranked Boyd, the District 10-3A champ, which beat Rains in five sets on Thursday night.
"They are a very solid team and program that has had deep playoff runs the last several years," Hatch said. "At this point in the playoffs, everyone is good, so it's going to be a battle. I'm glad we have a couple days to prepare for it and a couple days for the girls to rest up."
Grandview and Boyd will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center in Fort Worth.
