Photo by Lezley Norris

At 28-3, Waxhachie is the top-ranked 4A team in the state. Team members include (first row, from left): Melissa Melton, Kelsey Teal, Vanessa Johnston, Ashton Benford, Brittany Brodeur, (middle row) Misty Gouge, Rachel Stelzer, Megan Williams, Erika Knowles. (top row) Maggie Ross, Megann Findley, Natalie Dehay, and coach Sandy Faussett. Front and center is Coach Faussett's daughter, Taylor.

The Texas Top 20

By Scott White
Editor

October 5 — This one will be short and sweet.

Want some action? Head west young man (or woman or child) where Lubbock Coronado and Amarillo meet tonight in the first of two showdowns between two of the state's best. The Amarillo gym is probably already rocking as Amarillo (35-2) tries to keep its dominance alive while Coronado (30-2) tries change the balance of power in West Texas volleyball. The teams have met once (in August) with Amarillo winning in three.

What to be confused? Head south where, as we wrote last week, just when you think you have Houston figured out....you don't. The short version: Only two weeks ago, Cy Creek looked to be a team in charge of South Texas. Since then they've lost to Cy Springs and Cy Falls. And Kingwood, another team that also looked to have things turned around, managed to lose to Humble in five (18-16).

Meanwhile in North Texas, the strange saga of Lake Highlands continued. Here's a team that looked to have things on cruise control for another trip deep into the playoffs. Then last week a strange five-game struggle against Richardson raised a few question marks. But everyone gets caught napping at this time of the year, right? Apparently not. Tuesday night comes a shocking loss to Newman Smith. Then on Friday, Sachse takes the Wildcats to five. Lake Highlands has a history in the past of underperforming at the wrong time, so it will be interesting to see how this team responds.

Elsewhere it was a yawner of a week. Even the one match that had promise - Churchill vs. Reagan - turned out to be a bust.

So without wasting any more time, here is our ranking of the 20 best high school volleyball teams in Texas (last week’s ranking is in parenthesis).

1. Churchill (1)
Suprisingly easy win over Reagan. Expectedly easy win over Lee.

2. Austin Westlake (2)
Anderson and Akins became the latest victims.

3. SA Clark (3)
Lost game one to Warren. A warrening? Winning the next three in 20, 13 and 23 says "no."

4. Amarillo (4)
Heading into tonight's heavily-anticipated district showdown with Coronado, a loss to Churchill and to Deer Park (when they were without Nicole Mahan) are the only blemishes on a 35-2 record for a team that had the state's toughest tournament schedule (level of competition and travel) - Duncanville, Allen and Pearland. Injuries to Teal Clark and Alex Houston have depleted depth. As long as Mahan, Kori Cooper, Kristin Schroeder and Sara Contreras are healthy, however, this is one of the state and nation's top top teams.

5. Lubbock Coronado (5)
Our guess is that the 30-2 Mustangs will be supercharged for Amarillo tonight when they get the chance to gain revenge for one of only two season losses (the other loss was to Arlington Lamar at Duncanville). It won't be easy. Amarillo won the first meeting 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 in August. Coronado has won 23 straight since, so they certainly have plenty of momentum. Let the battle begin.

6. Arlington Martin (6)
No problems with Sam Houston and Bowie.

7. Arlington Lamar (7)
An eventful week for the Vikings who beat Arlington for the first time since 1998 and clearly established themselves as the district's #2 team.

8. Dulles (8)
Fell behind early to Elkins then won three straight and another three straight on Friday against Marshall.

9. Katy (11)
Struggled against up-and-down Cinco Ranch. Swept Alief Taylor.

10. Houston Stratford (12)
We'd like to say that the Spartans are getting their game in gear for the playoffs, but we've said that about other Houston teams recently only to regret it a week later.

11. Cy Falls (16)
Followed up the Cy Creek victory with an equally impressive showing against Cy Springs with wins of 12, 14 and 15 spaced around a game two loss.

12. Dobie (14)
Had to go five to beat Sam Rayburn but rebounded with dominating performance against South Houston.

13. Cedar Park (15)
Did exactly what they had to do - swept two teams they were expected to sweep.

14. Cy Creek (9)
Lost control of the district race (and high ranking) in a matter of two weeks.

15. Lake Highlands (10)
The warning siren is now sounding after a loss and two 5-game struggles in a district that the Wildcats were expected to dominate.

16. Deer Park (17)
Another stellar defensive week in which the Deer allowed more than 16 points in a game only once.

17. FB Austin (18)
Continued to fine tune for the playoffs with dominating sweeps of Kempner and Marshal.

18. Kingwood (13)
Loss to Humble is costly from a rankings standpoint.

19. San Antonio Reagan (19)
Rebounded from Churchill disappointment by blasting a good Judson team.

20. Waxahachie (20)
The story stays the same for the state's top-ranked 4A team. This week the brooms were out for Timberview and Crowley.

Teams To Watch

Allen - A win against Plano West tonight creates a tie for the district lead. A loss and the Eagles' string of five straight district titles (and nine in 10 years) likely comes to an end.

Austin Bowie - Austin and Crockett weren't much trouble.

Boerne - Just when you think you have this team figured out, they need five games to beat Medina Valley.

Cy Fair - Slow week with only one match (a win over Cy Springs) on the schedule.

Dripping Springs - Loss to New Braunfels just proves that the teams in this district would be more at home in Houston.

Dumas - Sweep of Hereford means that Dumas fans had a very merry week.

Elkins - Lost to Dulles in four then swept Bush.

Hebron - Passed time waiting for the playoffs by beating Lake Dallas and Frisco.

Lake Travis - After a tough week with back-to-backs against New Braunfels and Dripping Springs, last week was a breeze (and a sweep) against Burnet and New Braunfels Canyon.

Plano West - Beat district rival Plano East to take control of district race. A win over Allen tonight may sew up a district title.

Round Rock - Easy week with sweeps of Leander and Georgetown.

Westwood - Swept Stony Point and McNeil while allowing only 91 points in six games.