It was Wildcats over Roadrunners Saturday at the D.P. Todd senior girls volleyball tournament.
Kelly Ewald, of the Houston Christian Wildcats, said she didn't know what to expect from the Kelly Road Roadrunners in the gold-medal final after losing back-to-back matches against Kelly Road.
"I don't know what they do, it's kind of secretive," said Ewald, 16. "They kind of sneak past you. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure it out this time."
The Wildcats were able to solve the mystery of the Roadrunners in three sets, triumphing 15-13 in the deciding game after the teams split the first two sets. Kelly Road opened with a 25-20 win and the Wildcats followed with a 21-25 win.
Richard Bruce, the Roadrunners' coach, said it's nice to see his team peaking right before the 3A zones in two weeks.
"We walked away happy," said Bruce.
After repeated fifth-place finishes in tournaments this season, including the one they hosted two weekends ago, Bruce said, it was a huge accomplishment for his team getting into the semifinal. The Roadrunners had beat the Wildcats twice - in their tournament and during the round-robin play at D.P. Todd.
"We beat them by playing the kind of volleyball that we practice," said Bruce. "We practice really hard in not letting anything drop to the floor. If a ball drops without a girl hitting the floor we know we can't compete. We basically fought incredibly hard and kept our focus."
Bruce said the leadership of Carson Law has helped the Roadrunners this season.
"She's really stepped up as a leader and has really been pushing the team," he said. "That's something we really needed this year that we haven't had in the past."
Calyssa Deboer, a Grade 10 power hitter, helped in the Roadrunners' success with her placement of balls.
"We've really mended as a group. We've done a lot of team bonding and grown as a group off the court and it's translated onto the court."
In the semifinal, the Roadrunners swept past the Correlieu Clan (Quesnel) 25-22, 25-19. The Clan went on to lose the bronze-medal match to the College Heights Cougars 25-11, 25-21.
The Cougars were relegated to the bronze game after the Wildcats slipped past them in the semifinal 26-24, 25-18.
"I felt really good to be able to do it in two sets," said the Wildcats' Ewald. "Ruth [Hamblin] was on fire with her blocking tonight and that was really helpful."
Hamblin, at more than six-feet tall, towers over everyone on the court.
The host Trojans failed to reach the semifinal, falling to the Clan in a three-set quarterfinal 25-17, 14-25 and 13-15.
Anna Neumann, a right-side hitter for D.P. Todd, said the team relied too much on their opening set victory. The Trojans held a 6-2 advantage in Set 2, but fell apart.
"We went into the second set overconfident and not as focussed as we were in the first set," said the 17 year old.
In the deciding set, the Clan opened up a 7-0 lead on the strength of Shaylynn Robertson's service game, but D.P. Todd rallied to out score their opponent 13-8.
"We just tried to forget our mistakes and have some fun," said Neumann after pulling her team within a point at 13-14.
In the other quarterfinals, the Wildcats defeated Dawson Creek 25-20, 25-17; the Cougars knocked off Smithers and Kelly Road beat the Cedars Eagles, both in straight sets.
