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Passing time at Lone Star part 1 - A Texas Assault player finds time to catch a quick nap between the end of morning pool play and a late afternoon Challenge match.

Lone Star Day 1 – Top Seed Turvy

A look back at the Lone Star Qualifier

(Editor's note: This article originally appeared on PrepVolleyball.com)

Thanks to a 14-year-old, KIVA’s 17s live to play another day in D-1 at the Mizuno Lone Star Classic.

KIVA was the tournament’s top seed in the 17 Open division when play began. By Friday evening, having lost twice in pool play, they were in a fight to stay alive in Division 1. A challenge game to 25 with Sky High would determine who stayed alive in the chase for gold.

Passing time at Lone Star part 2 - Natalie Garcia, whose sister Melissa Barrera plays for South Texas Juniors, passes the time bouncing her volleyball off Austin convention center.

So, as the team prepared for the match, substitute coach Chuck Amshaw decided his team needed a speech. It wouldn’t be one of his speeches, however.

Amshaw, filling in since head coach Dave Bennett didn’t make the trip to Austin, also coaches a 14-year-old team for KIVA.

“I have a girl on my 14s team who wrote a speech about what it means to play for KIVA,” said Amshaw. “It might sound a little corny, but I think it reminded the girls of what they were there to do.”

The 14-year-old’s name is Katie Mills.

Sky High, like KIVA, had already qualified for an Open berth at this summer’s national championships in Houston, was seeded No. 1 in its pool and had finished third in its pool after losses to Circle City and Gainesville Juniors.

Behind the play of outside Jade Neighbors, 6-1 middles Megan Argabright and Erin Peak and the blistering serves of Brook Haines, KIVA jumped to leads of 19-13 and 20-16.

“Then the wheels sort of feel off,” said Amshaw.

Sky High took advantage of two serving and three hitting errors to jump on top 22-21. That would be all their scoring, however, as KIVA ran off four straight points including a massive kill by Whitney McCory and a big block by Argabright.

“We just didn’t get a good start out of the gate this morning,” Amshaw said of the pool losses to Colorado Juniors and Texas Tornados. “We weren’t passing well. We weren’t moving our feet. I think this win tonight will get us back on track.”

They’ll need to be back on track Saturday. As a result of having to go through the Challenge Game process, KIVA finds itself seeded fourth in a pool that includes Texas powerhouses Texas Advantage and Austin Juniors along with Texas Juniors.

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The number one seed in 18s, Texas Tornados, had little trouble winning its pool. Even though the team has already qualified for an Open berth, coach Chuck Schneider says he’s not letting the players rest on their success.

“No way,” said Schneider. “Our two goals this week are to qualify again and to win the tournament. And believe me, I am on top of them about it.”

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Passing time at Lone Star part 3 - Ginger Andreas knits a balnket for her daughter Shayla, who plays for Team Texas, between matches.

Only one top seed in 18s didn’t win its pool. That would be pool 3 where Tampa Bay finished second to Sports Performance White.

They may be listed as SPVB’s No. 3 18s team, but coach Jonathan Nasgowitz isn’t playing like it.

“We’re just laying low,” the coach said. “We try to fly under the radar.”

The team lost middle Gina Heiderman last week so Nasgowitz called up Julie Richards from the Blue team.

“She really stepped up today,” said Nasgowitz. “I think the team is getting used to her now.”

Setter Kylie Fister also was solid all day.

“Really, we basically squeaked out the wins today,” said Nasgowitz. “I just told them to go after it this weekend and compete all the way. I don’t know how long it will last, but we’re playing well right now.”

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Unlike the No. 1 seeds in 17s and 18s, the overall top seed in 16s, Alamo Kaepa, has yet to qualify. The team enhanced its chances, however, when setter Samantha Dabbs was cleared to play front row last week.

Dabbs, last year’s Most Valuable Player at JOs, injured her shoulder in a warm-up playoff match against Wimberley during the high school season. She had been playing back row only for the past few tournaments but was cleared by doctors to play all the way around. Friday was the first time she had been on the front row since the injury.

“It feels great,” said the 6-foot setter. “There is no pain at all.” She – and her team – picked right up where they left off and breezed to a 3-0 pool record.

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One of the more entertaining matches was the 18s battle between AMV Tyler, seeded No. 1 in pool 5, and Texas Advantage, seeded No. 2. AMV fought off a TAV match point to win in three (17-15 in the third) behind several key kills by Ashley Woods and Nickie Thomas down the stretch.

“Ashley is not afraid to take the big swing,” said coach Gareth Sampson. “And when they had match point on us, Nickie took a huge swing. It was really good to see that.” “They are a very athletic team and if you let them set the block you are in trouble,” the coach added. “But (setter) Katie Hirsch did an excellent job of managing the court and keeping them off balance.”

TAV started the season slow due in part to an injury to setter Amanda Eskridge. Eskridge is back now and lately the team has been on a roll.

“When we started the season we were a little raw but very athletic,” said coach Liz Underwood. “So I knew that even with Amanda we might start a little slow. We are really starting to come together now.”

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Finally, Dallas Skyline 18s has forfeited out of the tournament. Skyline finished fourth in its pool on Friday and with two players ill and several others leaving on Saturday for prom, the team would not have had enough players to field a team.

After losing their first two matches on Friday, Skyline did manage to leave on a winning note. They beat Team Texas in a match that featured two of the state’s top setters in J.J. Jones and Michelle Moriarty. Team Texas still finished first in the pool despite the loss.