College Park beats Kingwood in three straight sets in key district matchup

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- The College Park Cavaliers played host to the Kingwood Mustangs in a district volleyball matchup that could determine third and fourth place heading to the playoffs. This would be akin to whether or not you stand on the podium at an event that awards medals for first, second, and third place.

College Park finished off the Kingwood Mustangs in three sets 26-24, 28-26, 25-18 moving to 26-8; 7-4 in district play. Prior to this game, the Cavaliers were ranked 34th in the state. Kingwood dropped to 24-10; 7-4 for district, and ranked 57 in the the state prior to game time.

“We played hard tonight. Even when we were down, we fought back and never gave up,” said College Park head volleyball coach, Candice Collins. “So did Kingwood. They played hard and stayed with it.”

Although the game ended in three sets, none of them came easy. The Kingwood Mustangs came out thundering, with Baylee Barsalou leading the herd. The ‘Blonde Bombshell’ lobbed bombs at will, one down the sideline, a couple center court, and three across court to the back corner, contributing 25 percent of Kingwood’s points in the first set. Emily Duhon and Effie Zielinski, launched salvos of their own by each contributing an ace.

College Park dug deep to keep the ball in play, and was in large part, successful with Kingwood’s other outside hitters, but Barsalou’s bombs were unreturnable. College Park’s Hannah Erwin and Emily Thorson kept the Cavaliers competitive until the team was able to achieve some sort of rhythm; contributing four kills each, hittin Kingwood center court, finding a 'soft spot.’ Erwin was also responsible for an ace. When the Cavaliers got into their stride, the lead changed like a pendulum, swinging back and forth, with College Park finally taking the set 26-24.

Kingwood came back just as strong. Barsalou was unrelenting, holding serve and scoring two aces to lead the Mustangs to double digits, then proceeded to double the score on College Park...10-5, then 12-6, 14-7; the Cavaliers struggled to close the gap. Errors began to plague Kingwood as does any good team that wants something so badly that they focus more on will than skill. College Park was able to erode away their lead with Emily Thorson executing seven kills in this set, finding success with shots to the far backside corner. When the score reached 20-20, the lead seesawed back and forth until the Cavs took it 28-26.

With the first two sets too close to call, one would think the teams would be spent, but Kingwood fields a team of 18, providing depth and fresh legs; frequent rotations kept the players refreshed. College Park, with a roster of eleven, kept its starters on the court for most of the game, and they would see it to the end...a true testimony to how well this team is trained.

“I push them hard. I purposely kept the team number down, so that they would have to play long and hard,” said Coach Collins.

Surprisingly, the Cavaliers appeared to get stronger in the third set. Their team play was more cohesive, and the energy and momentum appeared to be in their favor. Hannah Erwin continued to have a stellar game with four kills, as did Emily Thorson. Both continued to exploit the hole in center court on the Kingwood side of the net.

Whether or not it was a personal best, Hannah Erwin led the Cavalier charge, finishing the game with an amazing 12 kills, 20 assists, 7 digs, and one ace, for ‘Player of the Game’ honors. Emily Thorson contributed 15 kills and 15 digs, assisted by Kilee Burke’s 17 assists. Libero, Savannah Rutledge, had 18 digs to her credit.

Kingwood’s standout player was Baylee Barsalou with 12 kills, 18 digs, and 3 aces, followed by Nicole Walters with 38 assists and 13 digs.

The victory was followed with the “Senior Night” ceremony. Seven seniors were honored, leaving the remnants of the team, only four, to observe from the sideline. For a small squad, it appears to leave a potential gaping hole.

“The future is bright,” said Coach Collins. “We have some good juniors on the junior varsity who will be joining the varsity. We’ll be working with them in the off-season and they’ll be ready next year.”

In the meantime, the varsity demonstrated in their penultimate game of the season, that they’re ready for the playoffs.