VOLLEYBALL: Lady Highlanders Volley-Battle champs, defeat Oak Ridge

MAGNOLIA, Texas - Once again, just like day two, The Woodlands and Oak Ridge volleyball teams were face-to-face, but this time for the Magnolia Volley-Battle championship. Only one would be crowned the champion as both teams had a standout record during the three-day tournament. Oak Ridge, 8-0, and TWHS, 7-1, only losing to Oak Ridge on Friday afternoon. With Oak Ridge defeating Klein Collins and Concordia Lutheran Saturday morning, and TWHS defeating both College Station and Willis, the two local teams met up at the championship round on Saturday afternoon. The Woodlands would come out on top for the rematch against their cross-town rival, as they won the match over Oak Ridge in two sets, 25-16, 25-21, clenching the tile of the 2015 Magnolia Volley-Battle Championship.

The Woodlands got a point on the board to start the first set after a block by sophomore Sophie Walls. Oak Ridge was soon able to tie it up 4-4, but there will not be one instance where Oak Ridge gets up ahead of The Woodlands in set one. It became apparent pretty quickly that The Lady Highlanders weren't going to back down until they were able to get a win over Oak Ridge, and the score is soon 10-5 which included a great play where Walls set up freshman Courtney Heiser for a kill. After an Oak Ridge error, the team tries to regroup and Carly Graham goes in for a kill, making the score 11-6. Bella Pinton of The Woodlands strikes back with a kill and TWHS is soon up by seven points, 13-6, when Oak Ridge calls a timeout. However, the Lady Highlanders still can’t be stopped and Pinton has another forceful kill. It is not until a TWHS error that Oak Ridge is able to get another point on the board followed by two Lady War Eagle kills, one of which was a great play of Graham setting it up for Clark, making the score 16-9. Oak Ridge commits more errors, although they had some solid kills from Hannah Mikelonis, Graham and Clark, with TWHS still in the lead 22-15. With game point in sight, The Woodlands displayed great teamwork and well-executed plays. An error from Oak Ridge and two kills from Lady Highlanders Hailey Reier and AJ Koele will win the set for The Woodlands, 25-16.

Going into set two, The Woodlands maintained the same intensity as the first, as they took a 4-0 lead over Oak Ridge right off the bat. Hannah Hickman had a standout performance which included two spikes in a row, increasing The Woodlands’ lead to 6-2. Mikelonis is able to get a kill for Oak Ridge and after The Woodlands hits it out, the Lady War Eagles are down by two, 7-5, the closest score Oak Ridge will have versus TWHS in the second set. The Lady Highlanders worked really well together as Oak Ridge seemed off-sync, complete with errors and miscommunication. Reier, Walls, Koele all had kills, bringing the score to 17-11 and forcing Oak Ridge to call a timeout. Grey Kennedy only added to the intensity when she had a kill, along with another from Koele. After Oak Ridge misses a serve, The Woodlands is up 21-17 but errors are made on the Lady Highlander’s side of the court as Oak Ridge starts to make a comeback, soon behind by just three, 23-20. TWHS is able to pull it off however, and after a kill by Heiser, The Woodlands takes the second set over Oak Ridge, winning the match 25-21, becoming the 2015 Volley-Battle champions.

Coming in to day three of the tournament, The Woodlands High School Volleyball head coach, Terri Wade knew there was a chance her team could play Oak Ridge again.

“We started out well, playing well and I think we knew we just had to take care of one game at a time. “We weren't going to be over-confident that we would get to match up with Oak Ridge again, but we wanted to so that was the goal, to just keep working on the things that we need to do better, you know, to get to that championship round.”

Wade was also sure to note the improvement she saw in her players in the second match-up against Oak Ridge.

“I think we just really knew that we had to change our outlook of the game mentally, and you know, we were intense the last time we played them, but it was more of an edgy, nervous intense and not a ‘come together and play together’ type of intensity. I just feel like we played so well together as a team, I mean, everybody did their job.”

Tommie Lynn Sledge, head coach of the Oak Ridge High School volleyball team, is ready to get back to the courts to practice so that her team can only continue to improve this season.

“I feel like they (TWHS) started very hot and that definitely kind of threw us off of our game and I feel like it just shows what I have been stressing. We just have work to do. It’s early in the season and you know, our confidence got down and that hadn't happened all tournament so I feel like were definitely going to go back on Monday and get to work and improve for the next time we see them.”

The next match for the Lady Highlanders will be against Montgomery on August 25, the team in which Wade was the former head coach. Oak Ridge will also play on the 25th versus Klein Oak.