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They're #1. Austin Juniors 16s Navy captured the Open division of the Lone Star Qualifier. Pictured on the back row (from left) are: coach Ted Wade, Katieanne Stevens (Austin Bowie), Kelsey Wood (Westlake), Tedi Doucet (Westlake), Lawrencia Brown (Akins), coach Scott Clouse; Middle Row (from left) Jamie Weidemann (Westlake), Veronica Godbolt (Bowie), Holly Hicks (Round Rock), Tori Thompson (Round Rock); Bottom row (from left): Natalie Peters (St. Michaels) and Kelsey Bryant (Westlake).

AROUND THE STATE

Finals notes from the Lone Star Qualifier...one last chance to qualify...which teams have qualified...more recruiting updates...coaching changes...pressure forces state rep to withdraw UIL challenge...and more

April 29 — It’s Last Chance Weekend. This will be the last chance for Texas teams to win a berth at nationals when all three of the state’s regions hold championships throughout the Lone Star State. Club berths will go to winners. The Lone Star region will have its qualifiers split between locations in Austin, San Antonio and Houston. North Texas teams will be playing at Plano Sports Authority as well as the Dallas Summit and Texas Advantage sports centers. Sun Country will be in Las Cruces where they'll play at NMSU as well as a couple of local high schools and middle schools. (See related links for each region's web site).

Anyone not earning a berth this weekend will have to hope for at-large invitations, which will be distributed over the next few weeks to fill out brackets in Atlanta.

Most likely candidate to receive an at-large Open berth is Texas Tornados 18s, whose fourth place finishes at the Mideast and Lone Star qualifiers should earn serious consideration. Long shots include Team Texas in 18s (although you wonder if a season ending injury to Marcie Hampton will hurt their chances despite two Top 10 and a Top 15 finish at Open qualifiers), Austin Juniors, Alamo or possibly Willowbrook in 17s and AMV in 16s.

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Speaking of Hampton, who was expected to be one of the top recruits in the Class of 2004, It looks like she tore her ACL. She told Prepvolleyball.com that doctors are almost certain it was torn while running a slide at Lone Star. She said she's scheduled surgery and expects to be back stronger than ever by October.

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Of course a number of teams punched their ticket to Atlanta during the Lone Star qualifier. In 17s, Centex was consistently impressive all weekend. Courtney McCrocklin (shown above on the kill against St. Louis CYC) and teammates Jackie Lucas (11), Jennifer Baerwald (background), Jessi Grisham (10) and libero Emily Pickett led Centex to a number of impressive wins, including a big one over Austin Juniors, and earned a berth in Atlanta.

But the big Texas showdown was in the 16s division where Austin Juniors (in photo at top of page) had a surprisingly easy time knocking off Texas Advantage for the Open championship. Austin coach Ted Wade said the team’s goal in January was to qualify at the Mideast qualifier and win Lone Star, but one of out two ain't bad. “We beat the eventual winner (Milwaukee Sting) at the MEQ but lost two tight matches,” Wade said of the team’s seventh place finish. “We knew Texas Advantage was doing well and we felt that if we could win the Lone Star we would really put ourselves in a good position for seeding at nationals.”

Prior to the start of Lone Star, Wade said he thought the key would Austin’s ability to “dictate our style of play rather than playing the opponent's style. We like to side out at high percentage and then take chances with aggressive serving. And we were able to do that all weekend.”

Although the showdown with TAV was the match everyone was anticipating, Wade said he wasn’t surprised at the ease with which Austin handled their north Texas rivals. “The core of the 16 Navy team played together last year and they beat that TAV team four out of five times, so the finals were a continuation of an old rivalry. I'm sure they'll want another shot at us.”

Wade admits that after consecutive Tour of Texas losses to AMV, he had to get his squad refocused on its overall mission. “From the start of the season there has been a lot of talk about who's the best out of Texas and my team got a little caught up in it,” he said. “After we lost to Austin Metro at the first and second Tour of Texas stops, the team got together and decided to stop talking about who's the best and start working to be the best. Since then it has been all about how well can we play and all the other stuff is just fun conversations for the parents and chat rooms.”

So now that the team has qualified, will the team change its focus? “It is all about three out of five now since that is the format at nationals," said Wade. "No one can sneak up on you in a three out of five match. The best team usually wins. In two out of three, a couple of untimely mistakes and then you are in a short 15-point game where any thing can happen. So our focus now becomes execution over a 1:45 min period rather than 50 min. I think its more fun to play and coach, but there is an adjustment mentally.”

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Texas picked up a couple more Club bids at the Northern Lights qualifier last weekend in Minneapolis (see Who Did What). AIM Brian won the 15 Club division to earn a berth. In 16s, AIM Miguel finished second to Circle City 2, which had already qualified, so the team will be heading to Atlanta. In 14s Club, Alamo just missed, finishing second to Court Masters.

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Here’s an updated list of which Texas teams have qualified for nationals. The first tournament in which they qualified is in parenthesis.

Open
Austin 18 Navy (Lone Star)
Texas Tornados 17 Kaepa (Tampa)
Centex Juniors 17 (Lone Star)
Texas Advantage 16 National (Tampa)
Austin Juniors 16 Navy (Lone Star)
Texas Tornados 15 Kaepa (Crossroads)
Alamo 15 Kaepa (Mideast)
Houston Juniors 15 National (Tampa)
Dallas Skyline 15 Roshambo (Lone Star)
High Plains 14 Riptide (Lone Star)
Austin Juniors 14 Navy (Lone Star)

Club
Austin Metro 17 (Lone Star)
Bexar County 16-1 (Tampa)
Willowbrook 16 Molten (Lone Star)
AIM 16 Miguel (Northern Lights)
Willowbrook 15 Molten (Tampa)
AIM Brian 15 (Northern Lights)
Club Iz 14-1 (Lone Star)
Centex 141 (Northeast)
Amarillo Juniors 13 Mizuno (Lone Star)

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Following the Lone Star qualifier, Texas was well represented on the weekly national Dream Team as selected by the editors of prepvolleyball.com. Making the elite squad last week were middles Myanna Hellsten of Austin Juniors 18s and Kelsey Bryant of Austin Juniors 16s. Also making the team was Alamo 17s libero Lauren Rosenthal.

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As April comes to a close, a lot of girls are making their college decisions. The following seniors all were added to our Recruits list over the past couple of weeks:

Ambra Hayes (TAV 18 Sharks/Arlington Sam Houston) - Louisiana Tech
LaTarra Moore (TAV 18 Sack Attackers/Arlington Sam Houston) - Garden City CC (Kansas)
Kristen Dudding (Amarillo/Crown of Texas) - Troy State
Tiffany Baker (Clear Creek/South Shore) - McNeese State
Kelly Rabon (Schulenburg/Tri County) - Texas Lutheran
Rebecca Harpham (Richardson/Dallas Summit) - Austin College
Lindsey Schaal (Smithson Valley/Alamo) - West Texas A&M
Lindsey Ehlert (SA O'Connor/River City Stars) - Louisiana Monroe
Valerie Mora (SA Highlands/River City Stars) Holy Cross (MA)
Tiffany Winkler (SA Reagan/River City Stars) - Trinity (Tex.)
Crystal White (Stephenville) - Tarleton State
Amanda Morganstean (De Leon) – Tarleton State
Hilary Overby (Klein Oak/Club Texas) - North Carolina (Greensboro)
Natalia Premovic (Memorial/Club Texas) - Columbia (New York)

Among juniors, Jackie Lucas, middle for New Braunfels and Centex 171, committed to Wake Forest last weekend. She joins Lonestarvolleyball.com All-Texas outside Michael Faulkner (St. Michael’s/Austin Juniors) who will also become a Demon Deacon in 2004.

Another junior who has made her decision is Brittany Prewit (Cy Creek/Willowbrook), who is heading to Southwest Texas. Word from Willowbrook is that the 17 Molten squad will soon have two setters with commitments to D1 schools (having one team with a setter at that level is rare enough).

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What do you do on Easter Sunday if you can’t hunt Easter eggs and your matches haven’t started yet? If you play for CJVA 16s (in photo at left), you find a quiet spot, an empty table and you pass the time playing cards. Then you go out and win the Flight 2 championship at Lone Star.

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Volleyball magazine has announced it Fab 50 and Texas has only one player on the list... among boys. Congratulations to Alex Gutor, Greenhill School/Addison Volleyball Club, who made the team.

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As the school year winds down, there are a few more coaching changes to report.

In Central Texas, the age-old conflict between football and volleyball (the coaches know what we’re talking about) seems to have claimed another victim where Leander coach Sally Schlobohm Tan announced her resignation. Tan wouldn’t elaborate but she said she probably would have called it quits a year ago if not that “I was returning such a great group of girls.” That great group included stars Christi Hahn and Lauren Galler, among others. Will Tan, the former UT star, coach again? “You never know,” she says. “I need a break.”

Also in central Texas, Cedar Park volleyball coach Pat Brooks has retired. Meanwhile in north Texas, long time Richardson Pearce coach Don Longo has retired and will be replaed by Tanessa Sawyer, who had been the freshman coach at nearby Lake Highlands. Linda Alfaro, who was coaching at Dallas all-girls school Hockaday, has been named the new coach at Summit high school in Arlington. She takes over for Chris Rudiger, who resigned after one season to take the same position at a new high school in Keller.

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Fashion statement of the day on Sunday at Lone Star was bunny ears, such as those being modeled by Lindsay Hall and Kasey McBrearty of AMV 16 Black. Bunny ears were everywhere, from players to parents to coaches.

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Good news from the River City Stars. Outside Morgan Spencer (SA Churchill) has been attending practices and has seen limited action for the first time since collapsing with a torn ACL in the regional final showdown with Austin Westlake. “Her positive and upbeat spirit, along with her unbelievable competitive spirit has been a plus for the team,” says a team spokesperson. Spencer has been released for limited back row play beginning with the Lone Star qualifier.

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And finally, congratulations to all the coaches, parents and even players who wrote and e-mailed their representatives about the proposed legislation that would have eliminated the UIL as the governing body of Texas high school public sports. According to news reports, State Representative Joe Nixon, who was the main (and some say only) force behind the effort, has decided to discontinue efforts in large part because of a strong response against his legislation from parents, teachers and coaches.

Said Nixon, a Houston republican: “It is sometimes easy to underestimate the amount of opposition there may be to a particular proposal until it is exposed for full debate." Nixon is no fan of the UIL, but maybe he has learned his lesson. Don't mess with Texas (sports fans).

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Related Links

Prepvolleyball.com

Lone Star Region

North Texas Region

Sun Country Region