SAN ANGELO, TX-- The Central Lady ‘Cats and Wall Lady Hawks each took home hardware from the Nita Vannoy Memorial Tournament on Saturday. Wolfforth Frenship took home the overall championship with a win over Lubbock Coronado.
GOLD DIVISION
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The Lady ‘Cats opened the day with a two-set win over Midland Christian. Central had to work for the win in the first set with a 28-26 score. The Lady ‘Cats then found their rhythm for a 25-18 win to clinch the match.
However, the Lady ‘Cats fell 2-1 in their next match against Lubbock Coronado, who beat them in straight sets this past Tuesday. Central took the first set 25-20 before falling in consecutive sets 25-21 and 25-19 to drop the match.
That put the Lady ‘Cats into the third place match against 3A power Bushland, who beat Central for the tournament title last year.
Central avenged last year’s loss in straight sets, winning 25-23 and 25-18 to claim third place.
“I can’t really put into words how happy I am [of the team],” Central head coach Connie Bozarth said. “They showed a lot of perseverance, a lot of resiliency. They’ve played a lot of ball in a week and a half. That loss to Coronado [on Tuesday] stung some. So, the chance to redeem against Bushland was huge. The fact that we beat them in two made it even sweeter.”
Adding to the sweetness was taking home a trophy from a tournament etched in the sports landscape of San Angelo athletics.
“We take a lot of pride in being in the Nita Vannoy and being in the championship,” said Central head coach Connie Bozarth. “Some of the girls were like ‘eh, it’s third place.’ I told them 28 teams are going home with nothing...We just keep growing. If we peak now, so what? That would be horrible. So, the fact that we’re making mistakes that can be corrected just tells me we have a lot of progress to make.”
Bronte fell to Bushland 2-0 in their opening match of bracket play. The Lady Longhorns proceeded to drop their next two matches to close out the tournament.
SILVER DIVISION
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Odessa Permian claimed first place in this bracket by beating Midland Greenwood, Del Rio and Monahans.
Water Valley knocked off Veribest in three sets to open bracket play. After Water Valley won 25-17, the Lady Falcons won 25-23. The Lady Wildcats took set three 25-16 to advance.
Water Valley then lost to Monahans and Del Rio in three sets to take fourth place.
Veribest knocked swept Class 4A Sweetwater 25-22 and 25-16 in the consolation bracket before losing to Greenwood in the fifth place match.
BRONZE DIVISION
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The Wall Lady Hawks and Miles Lady Bulldogs were looking to bounce back from a rough start to the tournament.
Wall won one game on Friday and lost to Central and Water Valley.
Head coach Robynn Jones said that was “a knock in the gut. We took that punch pretty hard.”
“We came out today and played strong,” Jones added. “So, if there’s a silver lining, it’s that we can bounce back. That’s what we did today. We have a young team, but if they can bounce back from their failures, we’ll get mentally stronger as we go on.”
Wall and Miles started off bracket play with wins. Wall had to win in three sets against Presidio while Miles swept Crane.
That pit the Lady Hawks and Lady Bulldogs against each other for the second time in five days.
Much like their meeting on Tuesday, the Lady Hawks came out on top.
Miles went on to the third place game where they were swept by Wink 25-22 and 25-12.
Wall advanced to the championship game against Class 4A Pecos. The Lady Hawks fell in three sets against the Lady Eagles. However, Jones saw plenty of upside for her team.
In tournament play, getting players to refocus after a long lay-off can be the downfall of teams.
“It was a long day. We played the very first game here at Lincoln [Middle School] at 8 a.m.,” Jones said. “We kind of had our downtime today and I was kind of worried about that. We’d get some momentum then have a couple of hours off. With a young team, you never know how they’re going to get back on the court, if they’re going to be warm when they take the court in tournament play.”
Jones added that her team did just that.
“We never had those peaks or those valleys like we’ve seen against Alpine or when we went to Miles,” she said. “I’m really happy with how we played.”
[[{"fid":"44896","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Lake View's Leila Ramirez tries to get an attack around two Andrews Lady Mustangs. Aug. 17, 2018 (LIVE! Photo/Sam Fowler)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"4":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Lake View's Leila Ramirez tries to get an attack around two Andrews Lady Mustangs. Aug. 17, 2018 (LIVE! Photo/Sam Fowler)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"alt":"Lake View's Leila Ramirez tries to get an attack around two Andrews Lady Mustangs. Aug. 17, 2018 (LIVE! Photo/Sam Fowler)","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"4"}}]]Above: Lake View's Leila Ramirez tries to get an attack around two Andrews Lady Mustangs. Aug. 17, 2018 (LIVE! Photo/Sam Fowler)
The Lake View Maidens couldn’t bounce back from their 1-2 record on the first day, losing in three sets to Wink and two against El Paso Jefferson and Presidio.
BRONZE CHALLENGER DIVISION
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Central’s JV team won the Bronze Challenger bracket with a win over El Paso Irvin.
Lake View’s JV team took home fourth place after a loss to Marble Falls in their finale.
After losing all three matches on Friday and an opening loss to Central’s JV in bracket play, Grape Creek rallied for two straight wins over Sterling City and Colorado City to claim fifth place.
Sterling City beat Cornerstone for seventh place.
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