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AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT Updated: 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 Published: 11:07 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011
Deep in a crouch in his khaki pants and short sleeve button-up shirt, Westlake coach Al Bennett maintained his poise during a timeout called with his team trailing 22-17 in the third set. The Chaparrals were on the verge of losing a set for the first time in this season's playoffs. An 8-1 run by Westlake defused that threat, though, as the Chaps swept Round Rock 25-11, 25-18, 25-23 in a Class 5A regional quarterfinal at Delco Center. "Our goal was to take them out in three, we didn't want to give them any hope at the end," said Cailin Bula, who led Westlake with 11 kills. " … Coach puts us in that situation (of trailing in a match) a lot in practice because it happens in games." The Chaps (42-5) stand one victory away from setting a school single-season record for wins. They will face Richardson Lake Highlands at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Sam Houston State in the regional semifinals. Avery Bashaw paced Westlake with 30 assists and 19 digs. Cristie Ingram added 19 digs, and Paige Caridi had 10 kills. Westlake dominated the first set, and a 7-2 run midway through second set swung things in its favor. The third set was tougher as the Chaps trailed throughout before their last push. "We said that we just have to out-score them two to one, and Paige did a great job serving the ball tough enough they couldn't get any good swings at it," Bennett said. "We executed and got a little bit lucky. "We have that senior leadership that makes all the difference. It's the (victories) you win at the end (of the season) that matter the most; so we've got to keep winning." An experienced group was on display for Westlake while Round Rock (28-19) featured three sophomores playing on the court at times. "We need to grow up and mature," Round Rock coach Diane Watson said. "I think Westlake just did a fantastic job of serving rockets at us. That rocked a little bit of our confidence." "Westlake executed out there," said Round Rock senior Trisha Langley. "There's a reason they make it this far in playoffs, and we're kind of new to this." Stephanie Aiple led the Dragons with 20 assists. Langley added 13 digs and nine kills. |
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| 11/9/2011 11:22:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By THOMAS JONES Westlake Picayune AUSTIN - In the frantic final moments of the third set, Westlake (42-5) made enough clutch plays to sweep aside Round Rock (24-20) and advance to the regional tournament for the 11th straight season. Senior captain Cailin Bula fired four of her 10 kills during a 7-1 Chap run that closed out Westlake's 25-11, 25-18, 25-23 victory in a Class 5A Region II quarterfinal contest at Austin's Delco Center. Two of those kills came on assists from outside hitter Paige Caridi, who had several digs during the chaotic final moments that mirrored what Westlake coach Al Bennett called "a disjointed match." "I think the serving kept both of us out of our offensive systems," Bennett said. "We struggled with ball-control, and we were just trying to make some shots down the stretch." Bula, a 6-footer who will sign a volleyball scholarship with SMU tomorrow morning, said that Westlake had to match the energy of a Round Rock squad desperate to prolong its year. "We knew they'd come back," Bula said. "Their whole season was on the line." Senior Trisha Langley keyed the Dragon comeback with eight kills, but no other Dragon had more than four kills. Sophomore setter Stephanie Aiple had 26 assists, and junior Macey Wilson had a defensive impact off the bench with 2 1/2 blocks. In comparison, Westlake leaned on the dual threat of Bula and Caridi (13 kills) to guide the team's attack. Grace Weghorst added eight kills, and setter Avery Bashaw doled out 31 assists and tied libero Cristie Ingram for team-high honors with 19 digs. |
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| 11/2/2011 12:09:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By BUTCH HART Special to the Leader The smile on Trisha Langley's face sent the message as Round Rock blasted Bowie 25-9, 25-13, 25-11 in UIL Class 5A volleyball bi-district playoff action Tuesday. "I was having fun out there, we were playing great and it just came together," saidLangley, who wore a broad smile while crushing her kills and notching her aces, said. Langley had four kills as the Dragons took a 9-3 lead in the first set then went to the service line where she proceeded to rocket five service aces as the Dragons built an impressive 16-3 lead and the tone was set for the match. "We served them tough and worked to keep their hitters off balance, I think it worked pretty well," Dragons head coach Diane Watson said. The home playoff win was the inaugural playoff match to be played at the new Dragon gym, and the Dragons broke it in with style as they served a match total of 17 aces. Trisha Langley led a balanced Dragon attack with six kills and five assists while sophomore setter Stephanie Aiple recorded 24 assists, five kills and a service ace of her own. The Dragons controlled game one with their fast start then got three aces in game two by sophomore Maggie DiPronio to take a 9-3 and the Dragons never looked back. DiPronio finished game two with five aces and recorded seven aces in the match. "We brought Maggie up because she serves very well and she showed that tonight," Watson said. Lauren Agan had five kills and two aces while Danica Taylor notched four kills and Alisha Watson finished with five kills and a block. The victory capped an impressive weekend run for Round Rock as the Dragons started district playoffs Friday night with a sweep of Westwood then came back Saturday morning to beat Stony Point and earn the second seed behind district champion Georgetown. "I am not a big fan of playing back- to-back in front of playoffs but it served us well, girls played very well and looked sharp tonight," Watson said. Cassidy Vaughn led the Bulldogs with five kills and two aces. Jamie Ludwig added four kills and a block while both Haley Bianco and Molly Doak had three kills each for Bowie, which finished the season as the District 15-5A thir- place team and bi-district finalist. Next up, Round Rock will face the winner of the match between District 13-5A champion Tomball and District 14-5A fourth-place team Humble Atascocita. |
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| 10/26/2011 1:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By ADRIENNE DALE Special to the Leader In its final game of the regular season the Round Rock volleyball team lost to Georgetown 25-19, 25-22, 25-16, Tuesday. A victory over the Eagles would have given the Dragons a second-place finish overall in District 16-5A. Instead, Round Rock will share the honor with Westwood, which also finished regular season play with a 7-5 district record. "It was a night of errors and not passing well," Dragon coach Diane Watson said. "When you are playing against such an offensively strong team, you cannot afford to make these kinds of mistakes." While the Eagles were able to grab and keep the lead in game one, game two had much more intense moments of play when both teams battled back-and-forth for the lead. Leading in kills (11) and digs (17) for the Dragons in the match, Trisha Langley was able to help bridge the gap in scoring for her team from a 20-14 Eagle lead to an almost-tie at 23 before a foul was called, allowing the Eagles to use the interruption in momentum for the win. Stephanie Aiple led the Dragons in assists with 28, Coach Watson said the team will need to work on its defense, as well as making sure they do not make as many mistakes as they did Tuesday night. "We had 25 errors tonight," Watson said. "That means that we had 25 times that the ball did not get up over the course of three games. That's 25 possible points that we could have scored." Leading Georgetown to the win was Jennie Loerch with 17 kills and Whitney Nunez with 31 assists. Stephanie Steele had nine digs while Emily Howard completed three blocks. "Every one of my 12 players contributed to this win," Georgetown coach Jenny Richardson said. "They play against each other in practice all the time. At this stage in the game, it doesn't matter whose team is better than the other. It all comes down to who has a better night. I think the other team played a very heartfelt game." Both teams (Georgetown, at 10-2, is the 16-5A champion) will enter the playoffs which begin Tuesday, Nov. 1. |
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| 10/20/2011 3:16:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By GREG ACKERMAN Special to the Leader Round Rock's volleyball team hosted its annual Dig for the Cure Game Tuesday, with concession and raffle sales donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to fight breast cancer. After the formalities were out of the way, their opponent, McNeil got beat by an efficient, well-organized Dragon squad. The Mavericks were shut out, 3-0. Only game three was close, as McNeil struggled to prolong the match, before losing 25-19. Trisha Langley (12 kills, 14 digs) and Lauren Agan (15 kills) paced Round Rock in the victory. The first point of the match was scored by Round Rock's Stephanie Aiple, who led the team in assists for the match with 32. Langley contributed a couple points in the early going and to give the Dragons a quick 6-1 lead. McNeil coach Karen Huffman called timeout to settle her team down. Shortly after the stoppage in play, Agan struck a kill from the left side that the Mavs had no chance to return to put Round Rock up 9-3. Those early points set the tone for the match as McNeil played from behind for most of the contest. Game one was never close as Round Rock won easily, 25-13. Dragons coach Diane Watson was pleased with her team's effort. "In comparison to the last meetup with this team, we played a little bit better. The game was more our speed," she said. "We played sloppy last time." The second game began a bit better for McNeil on a Taylor Dylan kill. The Mavs middle blockers grabbed a point on a side out and an ace serve led to an early 5-1 lead. The four-point lead quickly evaporated as three consecutive errors by McNeil allowed Round Rock to tie the game 8-8. After an Agan kill and a block by Danicia Taylor the Dragons led 14-9. The Mavs only scored five more points in Game 2 and trailed 2-0 after falling, 25-14. Faced with a shutout, McNeil seemed to snap to attention in Game 3, trading points with Round Rock to trail 10-9. The Mavs even grabbed the lead, 11-10, when a hit by Dylan deflected out-of-bounds off a Dragon blocker. The lead changed hands three times in the deciding game until Langley aced a serve to put Round Rock up 14-13. Then Anna Hamilton got into the act for the hosts, tapping one over and getting a side out on a big swing at the ball to increase the Dragon lead to 17-13. Round Rock began feeding Agan beautiful sets and she delivered, scoring consecutive kills and then hitting a third to make it 20-14. At 20-16 The Mavs called timeout again, before eventually succumbing to the Dragons. Round Rock improved to 6-4 in district and 20-16 overall with the win. McNeil remains winless in district at 0-11. The Mavs are 4-22 overall. |
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| 10/12/2011 2:12:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By BUTCH HART Special to the Leader Welcome back Trisha Langley and just in the nick of time. Round Rock halted a four-match losing skein with a dramatic win at Westwood 25-21, 19-25, 14-25, 25-22, 16-14 on a Dig for the cure, Pink Night. Langley ripped 10 kills and solidified a shaky Dragon passing game that had led to four straight defeats without the talented senior. Langley's passing and the setting of Stephanie Aiple who notched 10 of her match high 37 assists in the deciding fifth game, was the highlight of the Round rock victory. "Trisha brings poise and confidence with her talent, four of our starters were not on varsity last year so her presence is key to our victory," said Dragon head coach Diane Watson. The Warriors hosted a large and loud crowd, giving the match a playoff atmosphere. The victory improves the Dragon to 5-4 in district play, tied with the Lady Warriors and Pflugerville for third place. Pflugerville beat Stony Point to give the Tigers their third district loss while Georgetown remains on top with one loss and Leander is on the bubble with five district losses. Tuesday night the Dragons spread their wings early winning 25-21 as Lauren Agan and Alisha Watson had three kills each to offset four kills by Keely Davis won lead Westwood with 11 in the match. Westwood re-grouped to win the second and third sets impressively 25-19 and 25-14 as Davis, Hailey Stout, Mattson Raiford and Elisabeth Hart played very well. With their backs to the wall, the Dragons went to Langley and she shone with six kills, an ace, two assists and nine digs in a thrilling 25-23 Round Rock win that saw Westwood comeback form a 12-21 deficit to close before falling and forcing the deciding fifth game. Game five was tied 12 times as Macey Wilson, Lauren Taft, Aiple and Langley had huge plays for the Dragons while Westwood fought fiercely behind the efforts of Karina Robinson Courtney Hall, Raiford, Hart and Stout. Round Rock led 13-12 on a kill by Danica Taylor forcing a Warrior timeout. Westwood answered with a kill by Stout with Round Rock taking timeout. Westwood scored on a Dragon attack error forcing Watson to call her second timeout facing match point. Round Rock got a kill by Wilson, then a Warrior attack hit the antenna and Taft strummed a kill for a 16-14 Dragon victory. |
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| 10/5/2011 12:40:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By BUTCH HART Special to the Leader Lauren Agan collected 10 kills and Stephanie Aiple added 29 assists but it wasn't enough as Round Rock dropped its third straight district match losing to visiting Pflugerville 20-25, 25-14, 25-16, 25-12, Tuesday. Unforced errors by the Dragons set the tone for games two, three and four as Round Rock managed over 30 unforced errors in the three losing sets. "I didn't really make any adjustments after the first game loss, Round Rock is really good and this stops an 11-match district losing streak to the Dragons, our girls just decided after game one that they were ready to play," Pflugerville coach Jeff Coward said. Panther senior outside hitter I'Tiana Taylor led the charge with 20 kills while setter Lindsay Oborny notched 33 assists in the victory. Madison Rigdon added 11 kills as the Panthers completely changed their attitude and intensity after losing game one. Pflugerville jumped to a 6-0 lead in game two as Rigdon had three aces and a kill, with Taylor smacking a kill and the Dragons having a hitting error. Pflugerville cruised to the victory building a 22-14 lead. Round Rock scored twice but was called for a rotation error and gave up two points plus a side out. Round Rock opened game three on kills by Danica Taylor, Jenny Pyle and Agan for a 3-0 lead but the Panthers staged a 9-3 scoring rally and never looked back as they built a 19-8 lead and played out the win to go up two games to one. Round Rock tied game four at 7-7 on a kill by Lauren Taft, but Pflugerville answered with 5-0 scoring run then after and exchange of three points each the visiting Panthers had a 9-0 run and claimed set and match on a kill by Rigdon. Pflugerville improves to 3-4 in district play while the Dragons are 4-3. First place co-leaders Stony Point and Georgetown play Friday night in the Tigers Den for first place. |
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JAMIE HARMS for Leader - Dragon libero Lauren Cote (left) and
teammate Trisha Langley go for a dig on a ball against Connally.
Tuesday night was the second time that the Round Rock volleyball team has played
in its new gymnasium. Coach Diane Watson is still looking forward to her team
developing a consistent routine that will give them a home court advantage in
their palatial estates.
Senior Trisha Langley and teammates helped advance the winning ways against
Connally.
"Every time we come into the new gym you get butterflies," Langley said. "I've
played three years in the field house and now being a senior and playing in this
gym is exciting. We want people to come out and watch us and be excited and proud of it."
Although Round Rock did win the non-district match, maybe it was a little too
exciting as it took five games, 25-19, 21-25, 25-17, 18-25, 15-8.
"I think we did maybe get a little too confident, too early and we stopped
doing what we needed to do," Langley said.
Lauren Taft led the Dragons (14-15) with 12 kills. Stephanie Aiple led with
30 assists, seven aces and one block, while Langley led with 12 digs.
"I didn't think we should have gone to five, I think we could have finished
it in three," Aiple said. "We started out really weak on our serve-receive,
but it got stronger.
Watson agreed that the game could have ended quicker: "I think we had a really
good game one, maybe too good. We always talk about getting too pumped up and
to me they looked a little too excited. We took it down a few notches after
that and we got a little overconfident.
"We're getting used to the environment. We've always had a white wall and
this wall is different in serve-receive. It's actually better."
Watson is looking forward to getting into district play, as they open up
against Pflugerville on Friday. It also helps them as they get to practice
more, as the early season schedule actually has them play more games and
not have time to work on things at practice.
Langley and Aiple have been counted on to lead in the early portion of
the season.
"Both Stephanie and Trisha show a lot of leadership on the court," Watson said.
"They've both matured so much as athletes and their volleyball IQ is helping us."
Connally (13-14, 3-0) showed a letdown after finishing in second place in a
San Marcos tournament over the weekend.
"We certainly didn't play our best," Connally coach Ruxton Williamson said.
"We didn't set ourselves up well, and we're a much better team than that.
Our girls know that."
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8/31/2011 3:04:00 PM
Lady Dragons swept by top-ranked Lake Travis
By Butch Hart
Special to the Leader
Round Rock's lady Dragons came out inspired as the new gym was open
for their first ever home match, unfortunately their enthusiasm and spirit
were a tad over matched by nationally top-ranked Lake Travis as the Dragons
were game but out-gunned 25-21, 25-17, 25-16 in non-district volleyball action.
It was Texas signee Amy Neal, MVP of all three tournaments that the 27-0 Cavaliers
have won this year, leading the way with 16 kills while Katy Beals was chalking
up 30 assists and five kills of her own. But the Cavaliers are far from a two-star team.
Sierra Patrick added 13 kills and three aces for Lake Travis while Piper Toler
had five kills and Claire McGowan had five kills and two blocks for the victors.
Setter Cassie Wang added 13 more assists and libero McKenzie Mayo notched
31 digs in the match.
Round Rock was opening its new gym with lots of fanfare. The place has great
views and is indeed loud. The junior varsity Dragons got the evening started
by staying unbeaten with a 17-25, 25-18, 25-19 win over the Cavalier JV team
and the fans were excited.
"This was a great atmosphere and after last weekend we had to stay focused
and finish," said first year head coach Jennifer Kazmierski, as the Cavaliers
won the 84 team Nike Pearland Invitational last weekend, "Round Rock was
very good and this was opening night for their new facility, it was loud."
The host Dragons jumped on Lake Travis for a 14-8 lead in game one as
sophomore setter Stephanie Aiple had seven assists in that run and added
a huge solo block on Neal that electrified the gym but Lake Travis was
relentless as the Cavaliers chased down every attack.
Round Rock led 20-17 on Trish Langley's fourth kill of the game but
the Cavaliers scored eight of the next nine points to win the game.
Sierra Patrick, Kaci Eaton, and Piper Toler combined for five kills and
a block in that run.
"We had our chances but we did not pass well enough to get the chance
to run our offense in a couple of critical rotations,"
said Dragon head coach Diane Watson.
Lake Travis controlled game two after falling behind 3-0, the Cavaliers
scored ten straight points and the Dragons were unable to get closer
that four points at 19-15. Lake Travis closed game two with a 6-2 run.
Game three was tied at 3-3 when the Cavaliers posted an 8-1 run
and cruised to the victory.
Aiple finished the match with 24 assists, three kills and two blocked shots
while Langley had ten kills and two service aces.
Anna Hamilton added four kills for Round Rock.
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Lake Travis stays unbeaten in volleyball
By Butch Hart AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT
Updated: 10:43 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011
Published: 10:37 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011
Amy Neal slammed 16 kills and Katy Beals added 30 assists and five kills
as defending 4A state champion Lake Travis defeated
Round Rock 25-21, 25-17, 25-16 in non-district volleyball action.
The Cavaliers (27-0) were coming off the championship at the
84-team Nike Pearland Invitational last weekend. Lake Travis
is ranked No. 1 in the nation by prepvolleyball.com.
"This was a great atmosphere, and after last weekend we had
to stay focused and finish," said first-year
Cavaliers coach Jennifer Kazmierski.
The host Dragons jumped on Lake Travis for a 14-8 lead
in game one as sophomore setter Stephanie Aiple had seven
assists in that run and added a huge solo block on
Neal that electrified the gym. But Lake Travis was
relentless as the Cavaliers chased down every attack.
Round Rock led 20-17 on Trish Langley's fourth kill of the game,
but the Cavaliers scored eight of the next nine points
to win the game. Sierra Patrick, Kaci Eaton, and Piper Toler
combined for five kills and a block in that run.
Lake Travis controlled game two by scoring 10 straight points
after falling behind 3-0.
Game three was tied at 3-3 when the Cavaliers posted an 8-1 run
and cruised to the victory.
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Faces off the Field: Trisha Langley, senior setter, Round Rock volleyball
Updated: 11:27 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011
Published: 9:52 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011
Erich Schlegel/Austin American Statesman
If you had a snapshot in your mind to help you remember your volleyball team,
what would that picture show?