Houston's top teams get the brooms out

By Scott White
Editor
LoneStarVolleyball.com

This week's commentary will be short and to the point. We're still a couple of weeks away from the start of the UIL postseason and while the state's top teams may not yet have their playoff faces on, they certainly don't seem to be slacking off.

In fact, last week the 10 top teams in LoneStarVolleyball.com's Top 20 were brutal to the opposition. Of the 19 matches played by the Top 10 teams, all but one were sweeps, and the other went only four. Even the matches with the potential to be showdowns in almost every case turned out to be disappointments.

And all of Houston's top teams had the brooms out:

* Megan Pendergast, Madeline Gaffney and Becky Bekelja led Clear Creek to sweeps of Clear Springs and a good Dickinson team.

* Heather Leaverton had 19 kills total as Pearland improved to 11-0 in district with sweeps of LaPore and Pasadena Memorial.

* It was another big week for Desiree Elliott, who led the Cy Woods offense in sweeps of Cy's Creek and Springs.

* Katie Messing had a 30-kill week as The Woodlands swept rival College Park and Oak Ridge.

As a result, the only movement in the rankings this week is at the very bottom where Coppell has been replaced by 4A power Red Oak.

One newcomer was also added to the Team to Watch list and it's from Houston. At 22-7, Stratford is a team that has quietly been putting together a nice season with some solid wins. They have the look of a team that could cause problems in the playoffs.

Rank. Team (record) Last Week 1. San Antonio O'Connor (32-3) 1 2. San Antonio Reagan (37-2) 2 3. Lake Highlands (36-3) 3 4. San Antonio Churchill (35-4) 4 5. Clear Creek (32-4) 5 6. Amarillo High (38-3) 6 7. Westlake (31-7) 7 8. Pearland (29-7) 8 9. Cy Woods (31-2) 9 10. Round Rock (32-5) 10 11. The Woodlands (25-4) 11 12. Hereford (35-3) 12 13. Westwood (31-9) 13 14. Richardson Pearce (32-7) 14 15. Smithson Valley (31-11) 15 16. Plano West (27-6) 17 17. Highland Park (31-8) 18 18. Canyon Randall (34-3)16 19. Steele (31-6) 19 20. Red Oak (34-6) NR

TEAMS TO WATCH

Alamo Heights (26-8)
Antonian (29-6)
Arlington Martin (24-12)
Bishop Lynch (27-5)
Brenham (29-6)
College Park (28-6)
Coppell (29-8)
Flower Mound Marcus (27-12)
Hutto (32-7)
Incarnate Word (28-7)
Lake Travis (30-7)
Katy (22-6)
Keller (23-15)
Magnolia (22-12)
New Braunfels (22-13)
New Braunfels Canyon (24-12)
Red Oak (34-6)
Southlake Carroll (32-6)
Stratford (22-7)

Posted by Scott White  at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)