Waxahachie wins tournament in Mansfield and other weekend state volleyball tourneys

They faced elimination twice on Saturday, but that didn’t stop the Waxahachie Indians from winning the 2016 Mansfield ISD Sunrise Volleyball tournament at Summit High School.

The Indians entered the final day of competition a perfect 6-0, with Keller Central, Euless Trinity and El Paso Franklin in their way.

Against Keller Central, Waxahachie won 25-17, 25-22. The Indians got 11 kills from Tournament MVP sophomore Audrey Nalls; 29 assists from Taylor Stoops, an all-tournament pick; and 13 digs from Hannah Ramirez.

In the other quarterfinals, Trinity took on TCU commit Katie Clark and the Arlington Colts, but the Trojans were too much, advancing to the semifinals. Franklin beat Arlington Martin and Mansfield Lake Ridge defeated Arlington Grace Prep Academy.

Waxahachie got its first test, dropping the first set to Trinity. Each game of the tourney was best of three. But the Indians got 19 and 15 kills from Nalls and Madelyn Ward and went on for the 21-25, 25-19, 25-22 victory.

Lake Ridge fell in the first set against Franklin 12-25 in the second semifinal, but forced a third set, where the Eagles were down 23-16 before tying it at 24-24. Franklin scored the next two to advance to the finals.

Again, the Indians lost the first set to Franklin 15-25 and looked as if the title was going to slip away. But they regrouped and won the final two sets 25-20, 25-18, getting 23 kills and six blocks from Nalls. Stoops recorded 33 assists and Ramirez had 14 digs.

Trinity swept Lake Ridge for third and Martin swept Central for fifth. A total of 32 teams competed at the three-day tournament.

Mansfield

The Tigers beat Legacy and Kennedale to win the gold bracket. Sophomore Molly Phillips was named all tourney.

Kennedale beat Frenship in its first game 27-25, 25-16, 26-24. Team leaders against Frenship included Bethany Klinkenberg (7 kills), Raeley Crosley (10 blocks), Jasmine Alli (8 blocks), Lillian Rychlik (7 assists), Ranaja Taylor (14 digs), Grace Guadagnolo (14 digs). Crosley was named all tourney.

Summit went on to win both its games on Saturday to win the silver bracket, beating Birdville and Eastwood. Senior Veronika Webb led the team with nine kills and three blocks against Birdville and five blocks against Eastwood. Peyton Sursa had 38 and 36 assists. Maddey Ashby had team highs 16 digs against Birdville and 10 kills against Eastwood, and Haley Harvey had 18 digs in the final.

Legacy

Keller Fossil Ridge dueled with El Paso Americas, winning in three sets 24-26, 35-33, 25-23. Hannah Grant and Mikayla Emmert had 14 and 10 kills to lead the Panthers. Cassidy Zellmer led with 35 assists. The Panthers lost to Midland in three sets to finish runner up in the bronze bracket. Grant had 12 kills and 12 digs, and Zellmer had 24 assists in the final.

Timberview

Brewer defeated DeSoto and Crowley on Saturday to win the title in the Flight 1 bracket. In the tourney, Lauren Jenkins led the Bears with 79 kills and 60 digs; Makenna Blassingame had 73 digs; Teranne Shepherd 53 kills; Haylee Lovato 173 assists; Meagan North 35 digs and eight aces.

All Tournament team: MVP Audrey Nalls (Waxahachie), Taylor Stoops (Waxahachie), Caylee Robalin (Franklin), Elli Merchant (Trinity), Capri Davis (Lake Ridge), Emilie Ickes (Martin), Jaycie Fuller (Central), Katie Clark (Arlington), McKayla Craig (Grace Prep), Shadiana Haney (Frenship), Raeley Crosley (Kennedale), Molly Phillips (Mansfield), Janell Fitzgerald (Legacy).

Pearland

With 80 teams in the Adidas Texas Invitational, reigning 6A state champ Hebron went a perfect 8-0 to win the title, defeating Plano West 25-15, 23-25, 25-16 in the final. Adanna Rollins was named tourney MVP. Allen finished third while Keller was highest area team and the only one to compete in the gold bracket, finishing in 31st place.

Colleyville Heritage started play Thursday 2-0 before losing to Pearland and McKinney Boyd. The Panthers finished strong, going 3-0 to win the silver bracket.

Grapevine, 5A regional finalist, only won once through the first four matches, but rebounded to win its final four games to win the copper bracket.

The turn around of the tournament among area teams went to Granbury. The Pirates lost all three matches on Thursday before winning their final six games to win their bracket.

Denton Ryan Classic

In Carrollton and Denton, Aledo finished as the highest area team, third overall out of 46 teams in the ASC Nike and Denton Ryan Classic (Division I). The Ladycats defeated Frisco Liberty in the third place game 25-27, 25-23, 26-24. Maddie Goings had 17 kills and 13 digs and Erin Weiss had 47 assists and 15 digs. Emily Smith and Sydney Casey added 11 kills and 17 digs.

Along with Aledo in the gold bracket, Byron Nelson finished seventh and Justin Northwest was 17th. Frisco Wakeland won the tourney, beating Plano East. Other teams included Frisco Liberty 4th, McKinney 6th, Plano 9th, Denton Guyer 10th, Denton Ryan 11th, Frisco Reedy 12th, Frisco 14th and Lake Dallas 18th.

LD Bell was runner up in the bronze bracket while Paschal, Burleson Centennial and Haltom finished in the top three of the copper bracket. Saginaw was runner up in the titanium bracket.

In Division II, Nolan Catholic was fourth in the gold bracket and Godley was 12th.

Hawaii

Southlake Carroll finished the Ann Kang Invitational in third place, beating Edison (Calif.) 25-12, 27-25, out of 16 teams. Asjia O’Neal and Haley Hallgren were named to the all tourney team. Saginaw Boswell went 2-1 on Thursday and Friday before finishing 8th.

Austin

Fort Worth Western Hills won four games while at the Jason Landers Invitational, beating Lanier, Reagan, Deweyville and Travis to finish 29th out of 38 teams.

Arlington Lamar started by winning its first seven games before losing to La Vernia. The Vikings beat Stony Point 25-21, 25-23 to finish third place. Kayla Whetstone, Emily Dondero and Abby Wilson got on the all tourney team.

Other teams in state tourneys included North Crowley and Cleburne in Duncanville with Midlothian winning the title and Burleson in Abilene.

This story was originally published August 14, 2016 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Waxahachie wins tournament in Mansfield and other weekend state volleyball tourneys."