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Four members of Austin 17 Mizuno show off their tattoos.

Lone Star Day 2 - Austin tattoos opponents

So you wake up Saturday morning and your pool includes two of the nation’s top teams -- Texas Advantage, a team you’ve already lost to this season; and KIVA, the top-seeded 17s team in this year’s Mizuno Lone Star Qualifier. What do you do to give your team that special edge?

If you’re Mike Garcia, assistant coach of Austin Juniors 17s, you give the players Spartan tattoos!.

“It’s like a Spartan Society or something,” said OH Lawrencia Brown. “You know, all for one and one for all.”

“It was just something to try to bring everyone together,” said Garcia.

It worked. Austin rolled over KIVA 25-12, 25-20 then rode the savvy setting of Holly Hicks and the strong shoulders of Natalie Peters and Kelseys Wood and Bryant past Texas Advantage 25-22, 25-21 to finish its pool undefeated Saturday morning. (In between they also disposed of Texas Juniors.)

TAV didn’t go down easy, though. In fact, they went down swinging as Lindsey Peterson, Taylor Barnes and Lauren Otto matched Austin kill for kill until the score hit the early 20s in both games. And little libero Danna Melito was everywhere.

Saturday night, the good Karma continued for Austin Juniors as they fought off a pesky Delta Valley squad in three tough games to open Gold pool play. TAV also opened Gold pool play with win, sweeping Circle City. The teams, ranked 1-2 in Texas, have split their two meetings this season and could meet again for the tournament championship.

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El Paso is over 500 miles from Austin. So it was a little ironic that El Paso Wildfire and New Mexico-based Diamondback met in 18s Club action Saturday morning. It’s ironic because the two teams feature many of the top players from the El Paso area.

“This is a long way to come to play another El Paso team,” said Don Bostic, father of El Paso Player of the Year Jordan Bostic.

Wildfire, our pick to win the 18s Club division, beat their rivals 25-23, 25-19 to go undefeated in pool play for the second straight day. Unfortunately, they won’t get a chance to deliver on our prediction.

Head coach Jose Luis Chacon, flying in from Mexico, didn’t arrive until the Diamondback match, which was the team’s third of the day. (You may recall coach

Chacon, a very successful coach in Mexico who speaks very little English, from last year’s coverage of Lone Star.). It was ruled that prior to Chacon’s arrival, Wildfire had a coach on the bench who was not certified and approved by USAV so the El Paso team had to forfeit its first two wins and dropped from first to last in its pool. Diamondback moved up to number one.

It was going to be tough for Wildfire the rest of the tournament anyway. Three players flew back to El Paso Saturday afternoon to attend prom, leaving the team with only six players.

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One other note about the Wildfire 18s: they feature a setter who may have the softest touch at Lone Star. And she’s only 15 years old. But don’t expect to see her setting for one of the El Paso high schools next year. Perla Yuridia Faudoag is from Juarez where she plays for coach Chacon.

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For those early risers who like to ease into their day, court #11 was not the place to be early Saturday morning when Texas Tornados and Jacksonville faced off in a match that had everything from monster kills, to spectacular saves to fierce battles at the net.

The Tornados won 26-24, 33-31 but when it was over JJVA coach Peter Sproules was anything but upset.

“That was absolutely phenomenal,” he told his players. “That was an example of two great teams battling it out. You put everything out there. It was amazing the way you guys kept battling. You have an awful lot to be proud of.”

Close matches between the two teams are becoming a habit. They previously met in Indianapolis with the Tornados winning in three (17-15).

The Tornados went on to win their pool on Saturday. JJVA wasn’t able to maintain the high level and finished fourth.