Ridge Point back at state after sweeping Cy-Fair
Ridge Point entered the Class 6A Region III final four two victories from a return trip to the UIL state tournament.
The Panthers took the shortest route to Garland, even against two of the area’s best.
Ridge Point swept District 23-6A champion Dawson in the semifinals and needed the minimum again in the final, defeating District 17-6A champion Cy-Fair, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 in the final.
The Class 6A state tournament is Nov. 22-23 at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.
Qualifying along with Ridge Point are regional champions Byron Nelson, Plano West and Schertz Clemens.
The Panthers (46-4) ripped through five regional rounds dropping only one set — the very first postseason game in the bi-district round against Tompkins.
A team with an ideal combination of talent and experience could clearly see the finish line.
“The seniors, they’re a special group,” Ridge Point coach Lauryn Bailey said. “There’s nine of them. They’ve been through all four years, almost all of them, together. They wouldn’t want to go out with anybody else other than each other.
The excitement and the hype and the energy has been high since last night. I don’t know if they actually went to bed or not.”
Bailey, in her first year at Ridge Point, noted her players actually have more state tournament experience. They advanced to the championship match last November, defeating Plano West before a competitive fourset loss to Flower Mound.
That loss has helped drive the Panthers all season.
“Last year we didn’t win it all, so this year we really just want to work hard to fight and win it,” senior libero Nia McCardell said.
Cy-Fair concluded an outstanding season highlighted by an undefeated District 17-6A championship and their fourth regional tournament of the decade. The Bobcats swept District 21-6A champion Deer Park to reach the III-6A final.
Friendswood prevails in 5A-III
Having lost to Manvel twice in straight sets during the regular season didn’t bode well for the Friendswood volleyball team Saturday in the Class 5A Region III championship match at Delmar Fieldhouse.
However, the adage that it’s difficult to beat a team three times in one season was in the Mustangs favor.
Friendswood took control early and held off a strong bid from the Mavericks in a 25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24 win to earn their first state berth since the 2013 season.
The Mustangs will make their eighth appearance at the state tournament next week in Garland.
“It made a big difference to start out super well,” said Friendswood sophomore middle blocker Sarah Sitton. “Once you have to catch up, it’s stressful because you don’t have momentum.
“We started with that momentum, and it got the whole team excited.”
Manvel (42-7), the topranked team in the region in Class 5A, had a 25match winning streak snapped. The Mavericks defeated Friendswood 25-14, 25-19 and 25-16,
25-19 in August but dug themselves a deep hole early and couldn’t recover.
“Manvel is a really good team,” Friendswood senior middle blocker Makensy Manbeck said. “We knew what they were going to do, but they knew what we had also.
“We had to come out fast and create momentum. We got some big points early, and that gave us a lot of confidence.”
Fulshear wins 4A Region IV
The most dominant team in the Houston area might be Fulshear.
The Chargers swept Caldwell (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) to capture the Class 4A Region IV title. The program is headed to the state tournament at just four years old.
Fulshear has not dropped a set this entire postseason. The Chargers haven’t dropped a set since a playoff warm-up match against Episcopal that they won in four sets.
Before that, the Chargers collected 12 consecutive sweeps, including against Needville, the two-time defending district champion, which Fulshear knocked from the top of District 25-4A.
Fulshear heads into the state tournament with 43 wins.
Klein falls in 6A Region II
Klein’s highly successful 2019 volleyball season came to an end Saturday afternoon as Plano West defeated the District 15-6A runner-up in the Class 6A Region II championship in four sets (26-24, 25-15, 21-25, 25-18).
The Bearcats finished the season with a 41-7 record and were 14-2 in district play. Klein’s appearance in the final eight was the school’s best tournament run since advancing to the state semifinal game in 2002.
Despite the loss, the future is bright for the Bearcats. The team will only be losing three players, Abby Chi, Meagan Davis and Sophia Solis to graduation and will return the school’s season leaders in kills, blocks, serving aces, digs and assists.
Junior Annie Antar led the Bearcats in kills with 491 this season, while sophomore Gaby Mansfield led in digs with 734 and junior Camy Kling led with 774 assists