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The Woodlands streaks to district volleyball victory against Oak Ridge in three sets

By: J. Werner
| Published 09/26/2014

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- The much anticipated volleyball matchup between The Woodlands Lady Highlanders and the Oak Ridge Lady War Eagles ended in a surprising quick three sets: 25-16, 25-12, 25-17.

The Woodlands now boasts a 26-2 record, 4-0 in district play, extending their winning streak to 19 games. Oak Ridge has a strong 24-4 record, and drops to 4-1 in district 16-6A play.

Leaders for the winning Highlanders were: Courtney Quinn with 12 kills to go along with 10 digs. Kendall Cook was the assist leader for the game with 31 and added 6 digs, and Colby Quinn had 12 digs for the game.

FIRST SET:

Stats for the first set gave the impression that the play was closer than the score alluded to...TWHS with 11 kills to ORHS with 10, but Oak Ridge having more digs (15), assists (9), and aces (2), to The Woodlands 13 digs, 8 assists, and one ace, left everyone asking, “What just happened here?” as the scoreboard read TWHS 25 - ORHS 16, at the end of the first set.

In a nutshell, the Lady Highlanders were killing them softly as they demonstrated the art of the finger roll...masterfully easing the ball over the net and depositing it on the other side as if it were a fragile egg. Knowing they were going up against a strong defensive team that’s not afraid to get their hands dirty digging for the kills, they opted for a light touch, and it worked time and time again.

Individual contributors were Courtney Quinn’s 4 kills and 4 digs, and Colby Quinn with 3 digs, in addition to Kendall Cook’s 6 assists for the Lady Highlanders. Across the net...Victoria Harris came up huge with 6 kills and 3 digs, followed by Brooke Clarke with 3 kills and 2 digs; Carly Graham kept long drives alive with her 5 digs, and so did Jackie Ward with 7 assists, and 2 digs.

SECOND SET:

The second verse was the same as the first. Oak Ridge dominated in digs 29, and assists 16, to The Woodlands 14 digs and 11 assists. OR kills were 18 to TW 14 (both teams had 2 aces each), yet the score at the end of the set was a 2-1 margin, ending in 25 - 12 favoring TWHS.

The home team’s Rachel Reed dominated the net with five kills, followed by 4 from Courtney Quinn, all made possible from the 11 assists from Kendall Cook. Oak Ridge had the scoring leaders though, Victoria Harris with 8 kills, followed by Brooke Clark and Carly Graham with 5 and 4 respectively. Jackie Ward had an amazing 12 assists, and three players contributed 7 digs apiece: Raigen Cianciulli, Brooke Graham, and Jackie Ward, with Victoria Harris contributing 4 digs of her own. Each team had two aces each.

Again, the scoreboard defied the statistics, leaving the visiting crowd, and probably the Oak Ridge team, perplexed. They were doing everything they needed to do and more, but coming up short on winning the volleys that were softly being deposited in holes on their side of the court.

THIRD SET:

Oak Ridge came out strong in the third set with a rally, but the balanced team effort from the Lady Highlanders was more than they could stave off, with the whole Woodlands team contributing to the kill count… Courtney Quinn and Hannah Hickman with 4 each, Rachel Reed adding 3, Julia Pasch adding 2, and Kendall Cook also contributing 1. Kendall Cook’s 14 assists added immeasurably to the attack effort. Also a balanced effort on digs: Colby Quinn 5, Hailey Reier 4, Kendall Cook 3, and Courtney Quinn 2.

Highlanders Head Coach, Leslie Madison, summed it up nicely…”We just have a whole lot of weapons.”

Undaunted, Oak Ridge volleyball head coach, Tommie Lynne Sledge, was optimistic on the next matchup with The Woodlands.

“It’s the first loss of district; obviously it’s a hard one...but it’s just the first round,” said Coach Sledge.

Hear also from Oak Ridge High School's volleyball head coach, Tommie Lynne Sledge, in the video link attached.

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