Playoffs are Here

By Scott White / LoneStarVolleyball.com

The playoffs are here...at last. The 4As get the action started this weekend with the rest of the classifications starting next week. We wrote back in August that 4A would be the group that provided the most action and entertainment this year, and that has been the case from week one.

The team to beat at the moment is Waco Midway, which has escaped untouched through its first 41 matches.

Every region is up for grabs, however, with at least three or four teams in each region capable of advancing to San Marcos. Defending champion Dumas has a tough road ahead if it hopes to repeat. It will have to get past district rivals Hereford and Canyon Randall. Both have wins over Demonettes during district play.

One team to keep an eye on -- New Braunfels Canyon. We had high hopes for this team at the beginning of the season. They started slow while crosstown rival New Braunfels, a very young, big team, was exploding onto the scene at Pearland with wins over Cinco Ranch, Dulles and Magnolia, among others. Canyon knocked off New Braunfels last week in a wild 3-2 (15-13) battle to finish district play undefeated. One college coach we talked to who was on hand said that Lark Miller, Chelsea Grayson, Brandi DeBacker, Tara Smith and the rest of the Canyon Cougars have their game in a very high gear. Of course this is a region that produces at least one shocking upset each year.

One of the most interesting matches of the week is a Wednesday night playoff warmup match between Midway and last year’s state runner-up Vista Ridge.

While the 4As were wrapping up the regular season, the 5As began gearing up for the playoffs. There were some interesting developments in Region 2, which was thrown into complete turmoil by Allen.

The Eagles beat Lake Highlands just days after knocking off Plano West. That leapfrogs the Allen back into the Top 20. The late surge is very similar to last year when the Eagles finished on a tear to knock off Plano West in the Region 2 finals and advance to San Marcos. Plano West, meanwhile, coming off an impressive win over Lake Highlands, was shocked by local nemesis Plano, which swept the Wolves

All of that would seem to be good for Round Rock, who also has state tournament hopes, but the Dragons had to rally to survive being upset by Georgetown, finally winning in five (16-14).

Things were quiet in Houston, as the Cy-Fair machine rolled on. The biggest match involved a district showdown between Kingwood and Atascocita. Atascocita was coming off a five-game scare against Baytown Sterling and Kingwood had lost to the upstarts in their first district meeting. Not this time. Kingwood won in four to give their young district rivals a taste of what the playoffs will be like.

In Region 1, Amarillo spanked rival Tascosa in front of over 1,000 fans while Coppell, Arlington and Martin all had little trouble. The biggest loser was Marcus, which fell to Hebron and out of the rankings. San Angelo Central, meanwhile, obviously is ready for the playoffs. The Bobcats blew away Midland Lee and Permian.

In Central Texas, meanwhile, top-ranked Westlake rolled on with a statement sweep of Bowie by 13, 13, 13 scores. Reagan had an impressive four-game win over Smithson Valley while Churchill and Austin High had the brooms out.

Which brings us to this week’s ranking of the top teams in Texas. There are some interesting warmup matches on tap this weekend, so we could have some major shuffling of the rankings next week.

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
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