VOLLEYBALL: T-Wade, Lady Highlanders solve Seven Lakes

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Grey Kennedy and The Woodlands Lady Highlander (9-1) Volleyball Team fell behind early at home against Seven Lakes (6-4) but woke up in time to stave off the pesky Lady Spartans in four sets, 19-25, 25-8, 25-8, 26-24.

The multi-tool Kennedy was all over the court registering stats in every category to include 19 assists, seven digs, four kills, an ace and a block. What doesn't show up on the stat laptop is her leadership skills, an intense desire to compete and a short memory. A good athlete knows you are as good as the next play you make and to never dwell on an error. Grey started out the match with three straight errors that by the end of the match she had made everyone forget about because of her stellar all-around play.

The first set looked eerily similar to the Lady Highlanders lone loss to Cy Lakes as Seven Lakes jumped on The Woodlands early. Danielle Batenhorst served five straight winners before Bella Pinton got the home team on the board. There were few bright spots for The Woodlands in the first set as the Lady Spartans kept the Lady Highlanders in check throughout and when Outside Hitter Maggie O'Connell slammed a winner home for the 25th point, the final set score of 25-19 was not indicative of how much Seven Lakes dominated the opening set.

In between Set 1 and Set 2, someone on the Lady Highlander bench must have stopped hitting the snooze button in time for The Woodlands to be completely cognizant of their surroundings as they came back with a vengeance to pay back Seven Lakes for being rude guests. With the Lady Highlanders leading 5-3, Hannah Hickman toed the line and all of a sudden it was 12-3 and the second set route was on. The Woodlands went up by ten points at 15-5 when AJ Koele sent a beautiful crosscourt touch shot in front of an unsuspecting Lady Spartan front line. If that wasn't enough, Koele did it again for a 17-5 lead after Sophie Walls’ thunder slam. Koele eventually scored the winning set point on a slam aided by a perfect feed from Mia Primavera.

Set 3 was a continuation of Set 2 as The Woodlands was still not over the beating they took in the first set. Kennedy started off the set winning six straight points on her serve. It was a ping-pong shutout at 11-1 when Courtney Heiser made good use of a pinpoint set from Hailey Reier by massaging the back line. Late in the set, Hickman scored three straight points as the ladies breezed into Set 4.

It was Seven Lakes’ turn to wake up in Set 4 as they hung tough, point for point and even had a 15-11 lead after a block by Natalie Pashby. Enter Reier who converted a tough shot followed by a laser beam that the Lady Spartans seemed to purposely avoid. Koele then hit one home followed by two straight Seven Lakes points that gave the Lady Spartans a 19-17 lead. The Lady Spartans were there own worst enemies as they then committed three straight violations.

Further on, it was 22-22 when Kennedy sent one of her patented seeing eye dumps over the net that fell unmolested for good wood. A Koele block made it 24-22 but Seven Lakes wasn't dead yet as Beryl Edem slammed one home and the Lady Spartans were within one.

Controversy erupted when The Woodlands seemingly won match point when it was ruled that a Seven Lakes player had deflected a ball out of bounds. The officials then got together, got it right and play resumed. The Woodlands took the final two points on a Reier smash and a Walls touch shot.

T-WADE (TWHS coach, Terri Wade) continues to be upbeat about her team...

"When we play with intensity we are on,” Wade said. "A few simple errors we can blow off but when you do that over and over you can dig yourself into a hole. We just need to start off intense and talking just like when we finish on game point.”

Sophomore, Skylar Scott who did not see any action in the season opener against College Station but saw considerable P/T at the Nike Classic and during the mach against Katy Seven Lakes has made good use of her floor time...

"I talked to my coach and she knows I can play anywhere and will do anything she wants me to. The seniors earned their playing time and it's up to me to earn it, too. We just want to play as good as we can together to be the best we can be.”

For The Woodlands, Reier had another insane evening with 18 kills and 18 digs to go along with three aces. Primavera had 24 digs and five assists. Hickman had eight kills, two blocks, a dig and an ace. Scott had two kills and five digs. Walls had 17 assists, five digs, two kills and an ace. Courtney Heiser had five kills, three digs and a block. Colby Quinn had eight digs and an ace. Bella Pinton had seven kills and two digs. Ally Haden had three digs. Koele had 11 kills, a block, an assist and a dig.

This just in, the Lady Highlanders have a new...well...impromptu mascot they carry with them at all times and even in between sets when they switch sides of the court. It is a mini-Christmas tree. Why? I'll let T-Wade explain..."At the Nike tournament some teams in the crowd were singing us Christmas carols because of the colors of our uniform. So, we thought we'd make the best of it and use it to our advantage so we made a Christmas tree. Before every match, someone puts a new ornament on the tree. Also, at the bottom of the tree in the stand is a hole. We write down what our goals are and we put them in there.”

The Woodlands next travels to play in the Magnolia tournament where former Lady Highlander coach, Leslie Madison, has put up her shingle.