Longhorns, Bulldogs still on title tracks
Fort Bend teams hope to dominate at UIL tourney in Garland
While volleyball fans in Richmond and Sugar Land this week are celebrating the regional titles won by George Ranch and Fort Bend Austin, the coaches are not surprised.
They saw this coming as long as four years ago.
Austin and George Ranch both are headed to the state tournament for the first time thanks in large part to a group of five seniors that first showed talent and promise when they were freshmen. Of course, no team can guarantee a regional championship, but the coaches knew their teams at least would be in the running.
In Austin’s case, Dylan Brinkman, Erin Mulcahey, Mallory Nicholson, Paige Swinney and Julia Whitehead all played junior varsity as freshmen. Normally a coach would want freshmen to play on the freshmen team, but Amy Cataline knew those players were ready.
“They didn’t play like freshmen,” Cataline said. “That freshman group was talented. I realized there was an opportunity for us to make a mark.”
Allyson Dernehl, Ambrielle Logan, Ainsley Mandell, Abbey Messick and Mattie Ward had similar beginnings at George Ranch.
“I knew by the time they were seniors we could get there,” coach Cheyanne Forshee said. “I felt it before this season started. I know that these five wanted it. I have put this team in their hands. They have led us from day one in the right direction.”
Both teams had almost identical experiences in their regional championship matches Saturday.
George Ranch lost two of the first three sets to Barbers Hill before rallying to force game five. The Longhorns lost the first three points in the decisive game before roaring back to win it, 15-9.
Austin fell behind Seven Lakes 6-1 in the decisive game before storming back to win it 15-13.
The comeback was a big deal for Austin, but finding a way to breakthrough was nothing new this season. The Lady Bulldogs scored their biggest regular season victory when they beat Clear Creek in September. They did that again in the third round of the playoffs.
Without the first one the second one may not have been possible.
The fact the Lady Bulldogs boast so many seniors with experience probably made the difference this season. They never talked about getting to state, but they all knew it was realistic.
Now that they’re so close, they’re not satisfied by just qualifying for the state tournament.
“This week will be business as usual. We’ll just do our work,” Cataline said. “I expect these girls to be
focused. We want to take out the euphoria of it being a state trip. We just think about it being us traveling to play some matches.”
While the coaches always had the maturity and experience to believe their teams eventually could accomplish big things, it was not always so obvious to the players. Just freshmen four years ago, they had a lot of growing to do.
So in a way, being good enough to win a regional championship was new to them.
“I never really thought we could do this until this year,” George Ranch’s Mattie Ward said. “We always knew we had talent and great chemistry, but this year everything has come together. It has been insane.”