Industrial High School claimed third place in the Gold bracket of the Cuero Tournament over the weekend as high school volleyball began play.
The Cobras (7-4) opened the tournament with a win over Gonzales, lost to Beeville Jones, then strung together five straight wins before a semifinal loss to Stephenville settled the Cobras into a third-place tie.
Except for Class 2A Shiner and TAPPS Catholic school Incarnate Word Academy ofCorpus Christi, the Cobras squared off against much larger schools and fared well.
Industrial beat 4A Gonzales 25-19, 25-16 in its opener; lost to 4A Beeville 17-25, 25-20, 25-27; then beat 2A Shiner 25-19, 2325, 25-12, 5A Huntsville 25-15, 25-21,Incarnate Word 25-16, 25-14, and 4A Calallen twice, 25-15, 28-26 and 25-19, 25-17, to meet 4A Stephenville in the semifinals, where the Cobras lost 25-18, 21-25, 17-25. Stephenville won the tournament.
Calallen, Calhoun and Stephenville all reached the Class 4A Div. 1 regional semifinals last season, while Beeville lost the Class 4A Div. 1 bi-district round andGonzales fell in the Class 4A Div. 2 bi-district round. Shiner advanced to the Class 2A Div. 2 state semifinals.
Junior Karli Stanush was chosen to the All-Tournament team on the strength of 77 kills, 29 digs, seven service aces, and four blocks.
Earlier in the week, Industrial began the season Monday with a 17-25, 2225, 19-25 loss to Beeville.
Aerlin Bethany led the Cobras with 10 kills; Stanush had eight kills and14 digs; Olivia Pilat had 18 assists, and Ivy Sanchez added 12 assists and an ace; andKylee Swoboda made 13 digs. On Tuesday, the Cobras beat Calhoun 25-11, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22 to even their record at 1-1, but lost to Victoria St. Joseph 18-25, 18-25, 26-24, 19-25 to go to 1-2 on the season.
Stanush had 16 kills and two blocks against Calhoun as well as 26 digs and an acea gainst St. Joseph; Ava Collins had 23 assists, 12 digs and three aces against Calhoun and 16 assists against St. Joseph; Claire Karl tallied 14 assists against Calhoun and another 22 against St. Joseph; Swoboda had 19 digs against Calhoun; and Myla Barrientos made 31 digs against St. Joseph.
Edna Cowgirls
The Edna Cowgirls (27) beat Shiner St. Paul on Tuesday to open the season with a hard-fought 25-22, 19-25, 25-19, 13-25, 15-12 win.
Avery Garcia recorded an ace, 10 kills, and 14 digs; Kelly Laredo had 12 digs, 11assists and two aces; Leighton Hunt had 11 assists, eight digs, four kills, and an ace;and Marlee Holmes had 15 digs, two aces, a kill and an assist.
Edna defeated Class 6A Fort Bend George Bush High School 25-10, 20-25, 25-18during the Columbus Tournament over the weekend for their second win of the season.
Leading the Cowgirls were Garcia with 18 kills, three blocks, and eight digs; Laredo with 12 digs, two kills, and 13 assists; and Holmes with 13 digs and two assists.
The Cowgirls dropped their other tournament matchups, falling to Sealy 19-25, 15-25; to Burton 16-25, 8-25; to East Bernard 18-25, 15-25; to Cypress Christian 13-25, 3028, 16-25; to El Campo 1625, 14-25; to Lexington 18-25, 18-25; and to Round Top 22-25, 19-25.
Of those opponents, Round Top is ranked fifth in Class A in the preseason TexasGirls Coaches Association poll after playing in the Class A state semifinals last season; Lexington defeated East Bernard to reach the Class 3A Div. 2 regional finals last season; Burton reached the Class 2A Div. 2 regional finals; Sealy reached the Class 4ADiv. 2 area round; and El Campo played in the Class 4A Div. 1 bi-district round.
Ganado Maidens
The Ganado Maidens (2-4) opened the season with a 25-21, 16-25, 26-24, 25-20 win at Bloomington on Tuesday, then added another win in the Yorktown Tournament over the weekend.
Michaela Estrada served seven aces and had 10 kills, and Rhylee Green also recorded seven aces.
Ganado defeated Faith Academy 25-20, 25-17 in their first tournament matchup, but lost to Sacred Heart 10-25, 15-25; to Yorktown 8-25, 18-25; to Louise 8-25, 11-25; and to St. Paul 12-25, 13-25.
Overall during tournament play, Estrada served 11 aces to accompany six kills, one block, one first ball kill (FBK) and one tip; Green had six kills, four aces and a tip; MaKinzie Tovar had five kills, two blocks, and a tip; Cali Beard had four kills; Gwen Reid had two kills, five blocks, an ace and a tip; Avery Torres had a kill, six aces and oneFBK; Addison Tudyk had two kills and an ace; Kyla Stancik had four aces; and RaelynnPeters had three aces and one FBK.
Up Next
On Tue., Aug. 19 Edna played Victoria East, Industrial hosted Cuero and Calhoun in a dual match, and Ganado played Danbury.
Edna plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Schulenburg Tournament and Industrial competes in the Bastrop Varsity Tournament. Ganado plays Friday at Bloomington at 5 p.m.
