Nov. 26 – It's all a matter of perspective.

As we were watching Wimberley breeze to the state championship last weekend, much of the discussion among the media covering the event concerned how the Lady Texans seemed to be playing at a fraction of the pace they had shown against teams like Clark, Churchill and Westlake. Occasionally Caitlin Rainbird or Courtney McCrocklin would unleash an explosive kill that would draw "oohs and aahs" from the crowd. And no matter where she was on the court Jesi Grisham, as usual, always gave her hitters something to hit. But most of the time the Lady Texans seemed to have it on cruise control. That was the perception.

Then there was the reality. When it was all over, Wimberley had outscored two of the state's top 3A teams 155-88 and allowed neither to score over 18 points in a single game. And that reality was not lost on the players and coaches on the other side of the net.

"Wimberley is relentless," said OH Carrie Buchanan of Carthage, after being eliminated 25-15, 25-18, 25-14 in the semifinals. "They just keep coming after you and never give you a chance to catch your breath. It's like they're holding you under water."

"They just wore us out," added coach Michael Williams. "They're a powerhouse and you have to be on top of your game to score on them, much less beat them."

"I watched the 5As last night and I think they (Wimberley) are definitely the toughest team in the state," said coach Patty Dominguez of Monahans, which fell to the Lady Texans 25-16, 25-13, 25-12 in the finals.

We agree. The Lady Texans, whose 40 wins included victories over 5A state champion San Antonio Clark, as well as LoneStarVolleyball Top 10 teams Austin Westlake and San Antonio Churchill, are #1 in our final ranking.

San Antonio Clark, which has one of the most impressive defensive teams in recent memory, finishes at #2. State 5A runner-up Allen finishes third followed by Westlake, which lost to Clark in the regional finals. Houston Stratford, which lost in five to Allen in the state semifinals and in five to Westlake just prior to the start of the playoffs, rounds out the Top 5.

Other than Wimberley, the Top 20 features three other non-5A teams: Stephenville, Highland Park and Red Oak. Adrian Dunson, Mary Irvine, Heather Bashaw and the rest of the Class 4A state champion Honeybees are well-coached and created quite a buzz with one of the most remarkable comebacks in state tournament history, rallying from huge deficits twice to sweep Highland Park in the finals and land in the rankings. Harlingen South, which last week jumped into the rankings based on its regional final win over Boerne, falls out after being swept by Highland Park in the semifinals. And as a result of that result, Boerne also takes a tumble.

So here we are, 15 weeks later, with most of the same teams positioned near the top of the rankings that were there at the start of the season joined by a few newcomers in our final ranking of the 20 best high school volleyball teams in Texas.