Posted: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:56 PM - 12,982 Readers
By: Ted Dunham
Watching Austin Lake Travis play volleyball is a lot like watching Austin Lake Travis play football.
Precision passing, hard hitting, mistake-free play – and before you know it, you’re done.
There’s a reason why the Lady Cavaliers are the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, according to Prepvolleyball.com.
There’s a reason why Lake Travis posted a 49-3 record last year and won the Class 4A state championship.
And there’s a reason why the Lady Cavs are 24-0 this year and champions of the 84-team Pearland Volleyball Classic.
The win at the Nike-sponsored tournament this past weekend was the third tournament title this year for the Lady Cavs, who have yet to drop a game this year, much less a match.
In defeating College Park 25-22, 25-18 Saturday afternoon for the tournament title, Lake Travis and first-year head coach Jennifer Kazmierski never looked worried.
The Lady Cavs simply don’t press the panic button. In the championship match, they made one serving error and one return error.
“It feels good to win this tournament,” Kazmierski said. “We thought it was a possibility coming in here, but we knew we’d have to beat two great teams in Cy Woods and College Park.
“We had a little bit of fatigue, but we did a good job of dialing it in. It’s all about getting rhythm. College Park was a team that was running fast against us. Once we got control of the pace, we were fine.”
For the third straight weekend, senior outside hitter Amy Neal hoisted the most valuable trophy just as she did in tournaments at Round Rock and the Byron Nelson Classic.
“We came out kind of loose and not worried,” Neal said. “When they put pressure on us, we stepped it up. To play the best teams in Texas and come out on top is awesome.
“Everyone was super-pumped for this match. Our two goals this year are to go undefeated and win state. It’s a huge honor to get the MVP, but anyone on our team could have gotten it.
“Playing with this team is unbelievable. We have a great defense, and our offense is spread out with a lot of hitters.”
When Neal isn’t pounding winners, Sierra Patrick, Claire McCown or Katy Beals is. At 6-1, Beals is a senior setter – and never misses an opportunity setting up her big-hitting teammates. Libero Mackenzie Mayo has yet to see a return she couldn’t dig.
“You can’t give up two points in a row against them,” said College Park coach Candice Collins. “You just have to dig deep and not make many mistakes. They put pressure on you, and after a while, the mental exhaustion of a long tournament gets to you.”
By volleyball standards, Lake Travis’s size isn’t intimidating.
But, on offense, they have hitters coming at you from all angles. They’re popping up like kangaroos around the net to deceive you.
They have options of where to hit the ball, so even if you have two 6-2 blockers at the net, that means nothing if the Lady Cavs are hitting it past you or over you instead of through you.
On defense, they’re almost error-free. An opponent’s serve has to be pinpoint and hit with a lot of power and rapid descent if it’s to hit the ground. If the Lady Cavs’ retrieve it, then they’ll probably set up a winning hit.
“We made a few mistakes at crucial points, but I think getting to this final says a lot about the heart and character of this team,” Collins said. “Lake Travis is a very, very good team. In the second game, we started to make uncharacteristic mistakes, and you can’t do that against them.”
