First round of UIL volleyball playoffs tonight …
The Kennedale Lady Kats, District 7-4A Co-Champs and #2 seed will play the Stephenville Lady Jackets, the #3 seed from District 8-4A, tonight at Aledo High School at 6:00 p.m. in the UIL Bi-District round of the state high school volleyball playoffs. {{more: continue …}}
The Lady Kats enter the playoffs 17-24 overall and 11-1 in district play, while the Lady Jackets are 20-21 overall and 8-4 in district play.
Stephenville hails from a tough district that includes the #2 team in the TGCA state poll for 4A, Glen Rose (44-1, 12-0) and a very good Midlothian Heritage team (34-5, 10-2).
Stephenville’s regular starters players include 2 sophomores, 3 juniors and 2 seniors but uses two more seniors and a freshman almost as often.
Kennedale by contrast has had four regulars during the season that include 1 senior (Noah Dixon), 2 juniors (Mi Nguyen, Grace Guadagnolo) and 1 sophomore (Lily Rychik). But, the Kats have five that have worked their way in the rotation every set of late. These five include 2 juniors (Courtney Reed, Kyndall Daniels) and 3 freshmen (Katie Spell, Bryley Stenihilber, Angel Mahjou).
Playoff seeding match-up last week …Since Kennedale and Springtown finished the season as 7-4A Co-Champions, a one game match was played last week to determine who would be first and second seeds for the playoffs. As luck would have it, Kennedale lost the toss and the match was played in Springtown on Friday afternoon.
This was not good news for Kennedale. The history of these two has given the home team the advantage. Last year, Kennedale and Springtown were district co-champs also and like this year split wins with the visitor leaving with a loss. They also had to have a playoff seeding match but at a neutral site (Lake Worth). It went a full five sets before Springtown could claim a win at 3-2.On Friday it started badly for the Lady Kats when the Lady Pojos took the first set in a very domineering win 25-12. But, one thing that this young team for Kennedale has shown during the season is that they can be emotional and unpredictable. They stormed back and won the next two sets 25-22 and 25-17. Springtown was not about to surrender on their home court yet and won the 4th set by 25-18 pushing the match to the max. In the 5th and final set, Springtown prevailed 15-6.Stats for Springtown seeding match:
- Kills ? Katie Spell (Fr) 8, Bryley Steinhilber (Fr) 8, Courtney Reed (Jr) 7, Noah Dixon (Sr) 10, Kyndall Daniels (Jr) 4, Angel Mahjou (Fr) 1, Grace Guadagnolo (Jr) 2
- Aces ? Lilly Rychlik (So) 3, Katie Spell (Fr) 1, Grace Guadagnolo (Jr) 1, Bryley Steinhilber (Fr) 1
- Blocks ? Bryley Steinhilber (Fr) 2, Courtney Reed (Jr) 7, Noah Dixon (Sr) 3, Kyndall Daniels (Jr) 2
- Digs ? Grace Guadagnolo (Jr) 20, Bryley Steinhilber (Fr) 8, Noah Dixon (Sr) 9, Lilly Rychlik (So) 7, Angel Mahjou (Fr) 3, Kyndall Daniels (Jr) 1, Mi Nguyen (Jr) 12, Katie Spell (Fr) 4
- Ball Handling ? Lilly Rychlik (So) 94, Grace Guadagnolo (Jr) 32, Jordan Blackmon (So) 8, Bryley Steinhilber (Fr) 10, Mi Nguyen (Jr) 19, Kyndall Daniels (Jr) 5, Noah Dixon (Sr) 23, Angel Mahjou (Fr) 12, Courtney Reed (Jr) 1, Katie Spell (Fr) 9
- Assist ? Lilly Rychik (So) 30, Angel Mahjou (Fr) 1, Grace Guadagnolo (Jr) 2, Mi Nguyen (Jr) 1
- Receiving ? Grace Guadagnolo (Jr) 19, Noah Dixon (Sr) 9, Mi Nguyen (Jr) 7, Angel Mahjou (Fr) 2, Bryley Steinhilber (Fr) 3
