Arlington sweeps Martin, wins 3-5A volleyball title

By Kevin Casas

Special to the Star-Telegram

ARLINGTON -- Arlington's Kaitlyn Granger thundered away Tuesday night.

She knocked down 15 kills, had two blocks and served 11 consecutive winning points in a 25-11, 25-16, 25-22 straight-set victory over crosstown rival Arlington Martin.

Her dominating performance culminated in the Colts' second outright district title in a row, but also as the exclamation point on a season of adversity.

Arlington (33-12 overall, 13-1 in District 3-5A) struggled early in the season with its passing game and had to adjust to new coach Kim Spencer, who took over on an interim basis just as the season started.

The interim title was recently removed.

"The loss in district was a wakeup call for us," Granger said. "We realized we needed to play our style, and our defense has improved a lot. Martin had an off day, but we're playing well now."

Granger, who said she will sign a letter of intent with Stephen F. Austin in November, was all the Warriors (26-17, 11-3) could handle at the net.

Martin, known for its conservative, weakness-spotting style, was no match on defense in the first two sets. By the time it made a run in set three, it was too little, too late. The Warriors could have tied for the district title with a victory.

Granger took the ball with a 6-3 deficit in set two and promptly delivered the winning points for a 13-6 lead.

Her jump serve proved almost unstoppable, keeping Martin's back row off-balance with a mix of punishment to all areas of the court.

Granger had three aces in that stretch, forced five errors and middle blocker Jacqueline Vernor had three kills.

"There's really no word to describe what's she meant and the kind of game that she has," Spencer said. "We had a game plan that she worked and I just asked her to swing aggressively until they started to play defense. She was on tonight."

Arlington will likely meet Justin Northwest next week in the first round of the state playoffs.

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