Teams gearing up for big Northwest tourney
The best part about the first week of the high school volleyball season is that it’s over. Coaches can honestly assess what kind of teams they have and what major adjustments they can make between the first and second week.
Southlake Carroll, Colleyville Heritage and Grapevine went their separate ways in the opening week. Carroll (8-2) traveled to Hawaii and finished third in the Ann Kang Invitational. Colleyville Heritage (6-2) won the Silver Bracket and Grapevine (6-3) captured the Copper Bracket at the Adidas Texas Volleyball Invitational in Pearland.
So following their midweek contests, the three head to the NISD Volleyball Classic that will take place Thursday-Saturday between that district’s three campuses, Justin Northwest, Halset V.R. Eaton and Trophy Club Byron Nelson.
This tournament is starting to rival in popularity with Allen’s tournament. There are 15 pools and 59 teams.
“The best thing about this tournament is that it’s really organized,” Carroll coach Ryan Mitchell said. “Everything is well furnished. Matches are running on time. Everybody is a part of something big.”
Carroll is in a pool with Saginaw Boswell, Mansfield and Burleson. Colleyville Heritage is grouped with Coppell, Lubbock Coronado and Denton Ryan. Grapevine is with Denton, Rockwall Heath and Ursuline Academy out of Dallas.
Thursday’s pool play sets up Friday where another grouping of pools will be determined from those results. The drama is not knowing who is grouped with who until either late Thursday or early Friday. Championship and consolation bracket play is Saturday.
“We are looking to pick up our mental toughness and our court maturity,” Grapevine coach Whitney Woody said. “We made some great strides in the Pearland tournament. When you play in big tournaments with some big names, you have that experience where you see who really shows up in big matches. It’s about defense and getting comfortable.”
August is intense because of the compressed number of matches played. But coaches need every match because they are trying to determine their best lineup and who will be the spark off the bench.
“Obviously, you want to win the pool,” Mitchell said. “You’re also looking for growth areas of your team. You also want to have a good feel of the weaknesses so you can address them.”
Notable
Carroll – Junior middle blocker Asjia O’Neal and senior outside hitter Haley Hallgren were named to the all-tournament team in Hawaii … Carroll returned from Honolulu late Sunday morning. Mitchell was going to use Monday as a light work day before playing Plano on Tuesday. “The best thing we learned in Hawaii is that we had to adjust to the extension of rallies,” he said. “It was the different style out there than I thought it was going to be.”
Grapevine – Sophomore Symone Wesley and senior outside hitter Jordan McCalla had great starts to their season, Woody said … Grapevine played at Mansfield on Tuesday … freshman middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede (ankle) and senior middle blocker Haley Johnson (back) are questionable for the NISD VB Classic. They were to be re-examined earlier in the week, Woody said.
Colleyville Heritage – The Silver Bracket championship was a family affair. Head coach Bri Barker-Groth defeated her sister Danielle Barker and Flower Mound Marcus for both bracket and family bragging rights … Senior outside hitter Jordan Lackey enjoyed a strong start to her season, Barker-Groth said … the Lady Panthers played host to Keller Central on Tuesday … sophomore middle blocker Ashley McKillop is out for the season with torn right ACL, Barker-Groth said. McKillop suffered the injury in mid-July.
This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Teams gearing up for big Northwest tourney."