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Fort Bend Travis ousts Alvin from first round
Published November 4, 2009
MISSOURI CITY — Playing in its first postseason game since 2006, the Alvin Lady ’Jackets volleyball team ran into a roadblock Tuesday night. Its name was the Fort Bend Travis Tigers.
Behind a multitude of weapons, the District 23-5A champion Tigers cruised to a straight-set 25-14, 25-16, 25-20 victory over the Lady ’Jackets in the opening round of the Region III, Class 5A volleyball playoffs at Hopson Fieldhouse in Missouri City.
Be it the power-hitting play of Ashley Bannister and Taylor Szypulski or the blocking prowess of Megan McStravick, Travis (24-15) had too many weapons for a young Alvin squad, which was the fourth seed from District 24-5A.
Travis displayed its firepower in the first two games with comfortable wins, but Alvin (22-21) was able to play wire-to-wire with the Tigers in the final game. The Lady ’Jackets were up 13-12 at one point in the third game and kept within two points of the lead until the Tigers pulled away late to seal the match.
“We had some trouble hitting around the block tonight,” Alvin coach Alison Kley said. “We weren’t using the smartest shots. But it got better throughout the match. We finally figured out that we could hit it around someone in the third game.”
Jenna Paul paced Alvin in the third game, as well as throughout the match, with 14 kills. Paul was one of five sophomores on the young Lady ’Jackets, who also had five juniors. Boding well for the future, Alvin will graduate only four seniors from this year’s team.
“We have some young kids and we’ll have a lot of returners,” Kley said. “Hopefully we’ll come out strong next year and move past the first round.”
Travis, a region finalist from last year, had seven seniors on its squad, and it showed in the first two games.
After the Lady ’Jackets kept the first game close early on, Danielle Waybright served four straight points, as well as five consecutive points on her next rotation at the service line, to help the Tigers win the opening game by a double-digit margin.
While Waybright was getting the points at serve, it was Bannister’s powerful kills and McStravick’s ability to block seemingly everything in sight that fueled Travis’ rallies.
That trend continued in the second game as Travis jumped out to a 10-5 advantage and was never challenged. The Lady ’Jackets kept the deficit between five and seven points for most of the second game, but couldn’t cut into the lead.
The third game was evenly played throughout, though, with Alvin setting the ball in positions to hit around Travis’ strong net defense. The Tigers pulled away for good after McKenzie Hail served three straight points to give them some breathing room at 19-16.
Madelyn Johnson and Shannon Kelso, along with Paul at the net, were key performers in the game for Alvin.
While the match ended in a loss, Kley was pleased with her kids’ effort, especially considering the fact the postseason was a new experience for her team.
“You can’t take anything away from them because they have some really good players over there,” Kley said of Travis. “This was the first playoff experience for all of my kids. It was a tough game, but they came out, finished strong and left it all on the court. You couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Playing their final game in Alvin volleyball uniforms were seniors Reagan Schoen, Lindy Sewell, Brooke Stitt and Kailey Killingsworth.
“We had a lot of growing pains this year,” Kley said of her girls’ season. “We had some injuries early on, but we overcame and learned a lot about ourselves and the team. They all came together this year. The transition from last year to this year has been a huge improvement. There’s no doubt I’m going to miss the kids I’m losing, but I’m really looking forward to continue working with the kids coming back.
“We’re going to keep moving this program forward.”
Travis will meet either Galena Park North Shore or Houston Dobie in the area round Friday or Saturday.
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