Weatherford rallies to stun Chisholm Trail and more from Fort Worth-area volleyball
October 26th games
Weatherford 3, Chisholm Trail 2
The Kangaroos rose from the dead to rally by the Rangers 10-25, 12-25, 25-17, 25-17, 15-13 on Tuesday night in the District 3-6A finale, and in doing so, clinched the No. 2 seed for next week’s playoff opener.
Weatherford (22-19, 12-2), which only two district losses came against Boswell, will play No. 3 from District 4-6A, Southlake Carroll in a Class 6A bi-district game.
Chisholm Trail (27-13, 10-4) will face No. 2 seed Haslet Eaton.
First-round games can be played Monday or Tuesday of next week.
Everything that could go wrong for Weatherford and everything that could go right for Chisholm Trail did in the first two sets. The Rangers turned a 6-4 lead into 20-7 off kills from Maddie McQueen, Kira Gonzales and Claire Duley. Kaylynn Bennett dug up a tough attempt that went over the net and scored a point.
The damage carried over to the second set.
With the two teams tied, the Rangers used a 10-0 run capped off with a pair of points from Gonzales and a McQueen kill into the back row that made it 17-7.
But the Kangaroos flipped a switch and took their first lead of the night when they went up 4-0 in the third set forcing Chisholm to call a timeout. Kills from Riess Griffith and a block from TCU commit Kate Hansen pushed the margin to 11-2 in favor of Weatherford. Hansen took care of a Chisholm overpass and Keegan O’Connor scored to make it 16-8.
The Rangers got within 21-15 but no closer to send the match into a fourth set.
Chisholm Trail got back on track after a Duley kill gave the Rangers a 10-7 lead, but Weatherford responded with six straight points to take a 13-10 lead. Back-to-back aces from Veronica Cruz gave the Kangaroos an 18-14 advantage and the Rangers had to call time.
Weatherford rolled in the fifth with the first four points and nine of the first 11, but Chisholm Trail stormed back to tie it at 13-13. The Roos were able to score the final two points to complete the comeback.
Duley led the Rangers with 23 kills while Gonzales added 19. McQueen registered 18 kills and 28 digs. Bennett had a team-high 31 digs and Jadyn Gillespie led all setters with 57 assists.
Grapevine 3, Denton 2
With its playoff lives on the line, Grapevine rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat Denton, 26-24, 13-25, 17-25, 25-20, 15-13 on Tuesday night, clinching a berth and No. 3 seed from District 6-5A.
The Mustangs (15-17, 9-5) will open the playoffs with Wichita Falls Rider, No. 2 in 5-5A.
Meanwhile Denton (27-15, 8-6) falls into a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot in 6-5A with Birdville, which also dropped to 8-6 after a 3-1 defeat on Tuesday against district champ Colleyville Heritage.
The two teams will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Fossil Ridge. The winner will get fourth and play Aledo.
Grapevine, which reached the 5A state semifinals last season, got 21 kills from Missouri commit Janet deMarrais while Alea Lastinger added 15. Lastinger also hit 0.375 and deMarrais was second on the team with 23 digs. Sydney Engel had a team-high 25 digs.
Ava Shankle (6 kills, 4 blocks), deMarrais (4 blocks), Helen Hood (17 digs), Ella Davis (32 assists, 8 digs) and Mikayla Ethridge (18 assists) rounded out the stat sheet for Grapevine.
Denton was led by Abby Folsom (56 assists, 18 digs), Lauren Perry (23 kills, 26 digs), Katie Thomas (13 digs, 7 kills), Tessa Gerwig (10 kills, 6 blocks), Taryn Morris (14 kills, 7 blocks) and Val Pena (33 digs).
Mansfield Legacy 3, Everman 0
The Broncos defeated the Bulldogs 25-9, 25-20, 25-20 on Tuesday night to claim the District 8-5A championship, the program’s first district title since 2009. The win also clinched the No. 1 playoff seed.
Legacy (23-16 overall, 12-2 district) will play FW Trimble Tech in the first round.
Tulsa commit Arianna Mongare and Brynn Dowd combined for 15 kills to lead the Broncos. Angie Brothers finished with 20 assists and three aces.
Dasia Ingram led Everman with eight kills. Camden Ochesky had 17 assists.
Euless Trinity 3, Fort Worth Paschal 0
The Trojans defeated the Panthers on Tuesday night, 25-20, 25-19, 25-23 to claim the fourth and final playoff berth in District 3-6A. Along with LD Bell’s loss to Boswell, Trinity clinched a spot.
Trinity (26-18, 7-7) snaps a five-game losing streak and will play 4-6A champ Keller in bi-district.
Aledo 3, Wichita Falls 0
The Ladycats secured a co-district championship in District 5-5A with a 25-4, 25-12, 25-15 sweep over Wichita Falls on Tuesday night. Aledo (25-14, 9-1) will be the No. 1 seed after winning the flip with WF Rider, which swept Brewer to improve to 23-9 and 9-1.
Aledo will take on Denton or Birdville in the playoff opener. Rider will face Grapevine.
UNT commit Maddie Frank recorded 14 kills and hit 0.667 to lead the Ladycats. UTEP commit Mattie Gantt finished with 35 assists, eight digs and six kills. Vivian Parker (8 kills, 10 digs), Averie Riser (25 digs), Mia Little (12 digs), Sam Smith (6 kills, 8 digs), Skylar Ellison (7 kills) and Payton Hilmer (3 kills, 4 digs) rounded out the stat sheet.
Kennedale 3, Carrollton Ranchview 0
The Ladykats defeated the Wolves 25-8, 25-12, 25-14 on Tuesday night to secure the outright district championship in 10-4A. Kennedale moves to 32-6 and 10-0. Ranchview dropped to 12-12 and 8-2.
Maddie Pyles, Bridget Barton and Taylor Poore led Kennedale with 14, 9 and 5 kills. Pyles, Gracyn Reed and Poore combined for 13 aces, and Reed finished with 19 digs.
Kennedale, a state semifinalist a season ago, will start the playoffs with Sanger.
Grandview 3, Maypearl 1
The Zebras will enter the Class 3A playoffs as the top seed from District 9-3A after defeating Maypearl in a first-place seeding game on Tuesday night, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-18.
Grandview (30-9) was led by Shelby Martin (28 kills, 22 digs) and Mckenzi Williamson (42 assists).
Azle 3, Granbury 1
The Hornets, who already clinched the No. 3 seed from District 5-5A, defeated the Pirates 25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 25-23 on Tuesday night. Azle will face Justin Northwest in the playoff opener.
Meagan Ledbetter led Azle (20-18, 6-4) with 27 kills and 24 digs. Makenna Dillow added 31 digs and 13 kills, and Camryn Hinkle chipped in 34 assists, seven kills and four digs. Kendall and Karlee Locke combined for nine kills, 17 digs and six blocks.
Granbury dropped to 18-24 and 3-7.
With Brewer’s loss to Rider, the Pirates and Bears are tied for the fourth and final playoff spot. The season series is split and the two teams will play on Friday at 6 p.m. at Aledo with the winner setting a date with District 6-5A champ Colleyville Heritage in bi-district.
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 10:39 PM.
