Colleyville Heritage sweeps Grapevine in volleyball

By Kevin Casas

Special to the Star-Telegram

COLLEYVILLE -- Rivalry games always bring out the extreme fanatics. For a Colleyville Heritage vs. Grapevine volleyball matchup, ratchet that up several notches.

Among the sightings Tuesday night: Captain America, the green man and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. They saw a dose of vicious outside hitting as Heritage hammered Grapevine, 25-11, 25-16, 25-17 at the Colleyville gymnasium.

"It was really fun," Colleyville coach Jamie deTurck said. "I teach some of [the students], so I kind of knew it was coming. This game always brings out a great crowd, but today was probably the best since I've been here."

Heritage improved to 27-3, 2-0 in District 6-5A, and against a depleted Grapevine roster showed how overpowering opponents will be its goal.

Kimmy Gardiner's nine kills and two aces and Sarita Mikals' seven kills led the Lady Panthers.

Gardiner, who has said she will sign a scholarship to Mississippi State, was a wrecking ball throughout, but set the tone during Game 1. She dominated the left side of the net off strong setting and kept the Lady Mustangs off-balance.

"We try to approach every team the same way," Gardiner said. "But that's hard to do in this game. There was a little something extra there tonight."

The extra produced four double-digit attackers for Colleyville Heritage, something deTurck said was key for her team.

"In most cases, I would prefer six," she said. "But we're well on our way. It's starts with passing the ball better and we did that tonight."

Mikals, who has a verbal commitment to sign with Houston, dominated the middle and tacked on two blocks and two aces.

She said her team is getting more consistent, giving the Panthers better scoring chances.

"We're playing deeper on defense and staying wider on the outside," she said. "That really made them work on defense tonight."

Grapevine (16-12, 0-2) had 22 errors and depth on offense has become an issue. The Lady Mustangs were without outside hitter Morgan Haynes (knee injury), and Abby Monhollen, who is out another couple of games with a shoulder injury.

That means Grapevine has to be strong on defense and the Mustangs actually led Game 2 twice before Colleyville's Anna Walsh rattled off four kills and a block in the closing stretch.

"We have to get better on the back line," Grapevine coach Diane Wilson said. "The injuries hurt us on offense, but we can overcome that with better defense."

Twitter: @oldschoolCaddie

Looking for comments?