Down to the wire for district titles

By Scott White / LoneStarVolleyball.com

As district play winds down, the top teams are gearing up for the playoffs. That means that once again it was a week filled with sweeps and, as a result, little changed in this week's ranking of the top teams in Texas, teams on the bubble and those teams to keep an eye on as the playoffs approach.
We’re hitting the home stretch. It’s down to the final two weeks of the regular season for most teams and the final week for the 4As. That means that relief is in sight from the monotony of district and the action will soon start heating up again.
We’re starting to hear rumors of warmup matches and we know that Wimberley coach Lee Grisham is planning another of his all-day “No Shortcuts” events that always attracts a collection of top teams. We’ll be compiling a list of warmup matches around the state so send us any info you have and we’ll add it to the list.
Last week was another great one if you like quick blowouts, starting with top-ranked Austin Westlake. The Chaps won their two matches by an average score of 25-11. Ouch.
In all, of the 36 matches involving Top 20 teams, 29 were sweeps -- some of them bad ones. If you include the Bubble teams, 39 of 51 matches were sweeps.
Not that it was a completely boring week. The top match involved #5 Lake Highlands and #8 Plano West in a battle for the district 9-5A lead. With smooth setter Megan Murphy taking full advantage of weapons Shannon Hawari and Jordan Kirk, West took down the higher-ranked Wildcats.
As they proved during tournament season, West is a team with the size, depth and power to go a long, long way in the playoffs. So the win over Lake Highlands seemed to indicate they had their ball-control issues taken care of and were gearing up for the playoffs.
Not.
Three days later arch nemesis Allen knocked off the Wolves in five (15-13) with Sydney Ellis and Sarah Bullock combining for 28 kills. Will the real Plano West team please stand up!
Elsewhere there were a few noteworthy developments.
Pearland’s Amanda Aguilera returned to the front row for the first time since injuring her arm at the Pearland tournament and promptly cranked out 14 kills in a key district win over Clear Creek. If Aguilera can return to full speed and Pearland can get its game back to the level it was early in the season, they have the talent to make life uneasy for Cy-Fair.
Out West, Midland won its district showdown with crosstown rival Midland Lee in a wild five-game (18-16) affair. And in the always entertaining 3-5A, Hereford went into league-leading Canyon Randall’s gym and promptly threw the district race into a tie.
In North Texas, Arlington had to scramble to survive in five (18-16) against Duncanville. Anyone who saw Duncanville in the season-opening Duncanville Tournament of Champions knows that’s a team that has enough talent to cause trouble for anyone.
In a Central Texas match that had the potential to be a shootout, Austin High continued its impressive roll by taking care of business and dropping Bowie in four.
Also in Central Texas, Round Rock had matches that in the past would have been major showdowns. Not this year. The Dragons have their site set on San Marcos and blew past Leander and Cedar Park. And with Lake Highlands and Plano West losing, they positioned themselves as the team to beat in Region 2.
There are a few interesting matches remaining as we head into the final week and a half of the season. And there may still be an upset or two to keep things interesting. But with half of the teams in most districts now qualifying for the playoffs, the results will have little implication on the post-season.
Which brings us to this week’s ranking of the 20 best teams in Texas. As was the case last week, because most of the Top 20 rolled over their opponents, we won’t bore you with the details.

Scott White is the editor of LoneStarVolleyball.com, an exclusive content partner of HSGameTime.com. To read more on volleyball in the state of Texas click here.

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