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Photos
by Gerald Castillo |
| Aledo's Jessica Dorrell shows off her MVP form against Allen's J.J. Jones (22) and Friendswood's Kelly Stanton (7) of the East during the TGCA All-Star game at TCU. |
Coming this weekend. Photo scrapbook of the all-star games.
West Rules All-Star Games
July 8 — The coaches' annual showcase of the state's volleyball talent turned into a show of West power Wednesday night.
Aledo's Jessica Dorrell, Erica Wendell (New Braunfels) and Brittany Randel (Arlington) led a dominating performance in the middle by the West over the smaller East, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 11-15, in the Texas Girls Coaches Association 4A-5A All-Star Game at TCU's Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. In the 1A-2A-3A match, the West overcame a slow start to win for the first time since 1995, 16-25, 25-19, 25-19, 33-31, 16-14.
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| Michael Faulkner, MVP of the 1A-3A match, scores against Arp's Cidney Legg (12) and Felicia Sliva (11) of Wallis Brazos. |
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| Kelly Stanton (7) of Friendswood led the East 4A-5A stars with 13 kills. |
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| Nikki Wheeler (25) of Cleveland Tarkington had nine kills to lead the East 1A-3A stars. |
Dorrell, the most athletic player on the court who will be an Arkansas Razorback this fall, led the West with 11 kills, 2 blocks and an ace. Wendell added 9 kills, 3 blocks and Randel had 7 kills and a block.
"You get that many kills out of your middles you've done a pretty good job," said winning coach Al Bennett of Westlake. "The girls played really well together. They had great chemistry. The big thing is they were very resilient. They were down in all three games and came back and won it. You can't coach that here. Someone had coached that into them already."
After losing the first two games, the East tried to rally and jumped to an 8-2 lead in game three. But the West ripped off 10 straight, thanks in part to three East serving and hitting errors, and never looked back. With the outcome settled, the East did win the last two games to make the final count respectable (TGCA plays all five games to guarantee players equal exposure) .
"I think we lost a little focus after winning the first three, but that's easy to do when you're up against a strong team like they had," said Bennett.
Dorrell, who brought gasps from the crowd with several spectacular kills, was named MVP of the match, but said it was a team effort.
"I had a great team," she said. "I think they just had faith in me to hit the ball and it gave me confidence. The team helped me all the way."
In addition to the dominance in the middle, the West had all-star performances from Lake Highland's Emily Bertrand (6 kills, 3 aces), El Paso Franklin's Jordan Bostic (5 kills, 1 block, 2 aces) and NB Canyon's Brooke Engel (5 kills, 1 block).
"I was an all-around effort," said Bennett.
Friendswood's Kelly Stanton was the East's only answer to the West power up front, finishing with 13 kills and six blocks in a losing effort. Lesley Bowers of Jersey Village added 7 kills, SA Madison's Ashley Liford had 6 and Cynthia Yarotsky of Montgomery added 5.
The victory gained a measure of revenge for the West stars, who last year lost for the first time since the 1990s.
Of course all-star games really aren't about winning and losing.
"It was just fun to sit back and watch all the talent on both teams," said Allen coach Kelley Gregoriew, who coached the East stars.
The small school match (1A-3A) featured one of the strongest West teams in years with players like Michael Faulkner of St. Michael's Academy, Jesi Grisham of Wimberley, Megan Geiner of Bartlett, Amanda Hiller of Denver City and Laura Crumrine of Monahans.
So the West promptly started out with 14 serving, hitting and passing errors to drop game one. They turned it around and swept the next four although the East did make it a battle.
Faulkner, the first private school player to compete in the all-star game, led the West with 13 kills and was named MVP. Hiller added 11 kills, 3 aces and a block and Geiner added 6 kills and an ace.
Faulkner, who headed straight to the airport after the match to catch a flight to Wake Forest where she starts classes on Thursday morning, said she was surprised to be named the MVP. "I had no idea," she said. "I honestly thought it was Jesi (Grisham)."
Faulkner started slow with a couple of hitting errors and was blocked several times early, but she said it wasn't a case of the nerves. "I think I just wasn't warmed up," she said. "My nerves were OK. I just wasn't ready."
Nikki Wheeler of Cleveland Tarkington led the East with 9 kills. Sarah Bassett (Pleasant Grove) had 8 kills, 2 blocks, Felicia Sliva (Wallis Brazos) had 8 kills and a block, and Yoakum's Alisha Bourgo added 6 kills and 3 blocks.
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| West All-Star Lauren Hoying of Arlington Martin and her 12-year old brother Scott sing the national anthem prior to start of the 4A-5A game. The two had performed at the NCAA championships in Dallas last year and Scott is heading to Nashville to record. |
ALL-STAR NOTES
Westalke coach Al Bennett was on the bench for the West 4A-5A stars but didn't have the opportunity to coach any of his players even though he had two of the state's premier seniors. All-Texas OH Lindsey Louis is still recuperating from an injury suffered during the club season. All-Texas setter Meghan Kainz is training in the USAV national A-3 program.
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Sometimes it's hard saying good bye to your daughter. Michael Faulkner flew straight to Wake Forest following the all-star game to begin classes on Thursday. Her dad said after he had purchased plane tickets for the family, he realized he had made a mistake. He had booked a round-trip ticket for Michael. "I suddenly realized she wouldn't be coming back with us, so I had to cancel the return part of the ticket," he said. "After all these years of traveling together it just becomes automatic."
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Montgomery's Cynthia Yarotsky was added to the East 4A-5A roster to replace Krystle Brydon of Clark. Krystle who missed much of her junior high school and club season with injuries had surgery to repair a hernia on June 23. Coach Kirby Jameson, who was recognized with the other state championship coaches Wednesday night, said Brydon, who is heading to North Florida this fall, should be released to play in about three weeks.
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The East roster featured two of the state's premier setters - J.J. Jones of Allen and Michelle Moriarty of Stratford. East coach Kelley Gregoriew of Allen let the two play together in game five and they set each other for kills in the East's 15-11 win.
For information on how to order these or other photos, contact Gerald Castillo
