It was a grueling 550-mile round trip from Lindsay to Bronte, Texas, site of the Class A Volleyball Showdown Tournament this weekend, but at least the Lindsay Lady Knights had the championship trophy to keep them company on the long ride back to North Texas. The Lady Knights improved their record to 13-5 by winning the Class A Showdown.
Bronte is located just north of San Angelo and this tournament attracted several of the top Class A volleyball programs in Texas, including No. 3 Lindsay, No. 4 Flatonia, No. 6 Windthorst, No. 9 Leakey and No. 10 Albany. And host Bronte was in the top five at the start of the season before a couple of losses knocked them out of the top-ten ranking of Texas Girls Coaches Association.
In pool play which was held on Friday, August 28, Lindsay defeated Water Valley by scores of 25-16, 24-26, 25-19. The Lady Knights then defeated Rotan by scores of 25-8, 25-12, and finally defeated Wink by scores of 18-25, 25-15, 25-13.
Kaylee Murphree and Kristin Martin combined to knock down 77 kills in the three matches, with Brenna Mlinar dishing out 63 assists.
Stats for Friday were:
Brenna Mlinar -9 aces, 18 digs, 63 assists
Taylor Atkins -9 aces, 11 digs, 4 kills
Kristin Martin -33 kills, 7 blocks, 18 digs
Jordan Fleitman -3 kills, 5 blocks, 5 assists
Alyx Ethington -5 aces, 12 digs
Allison Metzler -9 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs
Kaylee Murphree -44 kills, 16 blocks, 9 digs, 5 aces
Katie Arendt -2 aces
Katie Nortman - 2 aces
Jessica Thurman - 4 aces, 11 digs
Lindsay opened the bracket play against TGCA #9 ranked Leakey. Lindsay defeated Leakey by scores of 25-21, 25-23.
In the semifinal round, Lindsay defeated Bronte by scores of 25-22, 24-26, 25-21.
In the championship match, which was best 3 of 5, Lindsay had a re-match with Wink. Lindsay won the championship by scores of 25-19, 24-26, 25-17, 25-21.
In bracket play, Murphree and Martin were even more dominant as the two senior middle blockers combined to post a remarkable 97 kills.
Murphree hammered out 56 kills to go along with 20 blocks and Martin slapped down 41 kills and finished with 15 blocks during the three matches.
Of course, with the hitters working hard, that meant Mlinar, the Lindsay setter was busy rolling up big numbers, as well. Mlinar racked up 94 assists.
Allison Metzler, Taylor Atkins and Jordan Fleitman all turned up their games in bracket play to finish with 14 kills, 11 kills and eight kills, respectively.
Atkins got under a team-high 30 digs and she also led the Lady Knights with nine aces in the final three matches.
Alyx Ethington fed the Lindsay offense by contributing 19 digs and Jessica Thurman slipped six aces through the opposing defenses.
"This was a huge win for us!" remarked elated Lindsay head coach Bridget Anderle. "The three teams we played in Wink, Leakey, and Bronte, were very similar to the 3A teams we have played in the North Texas area. My girls had to work extremely hard to win these matches; it was a total team effort. We feel very fortunate to have walked away as champions of this caliber of tournament."
Lindsay had three players named to the All-Tournament team:
Seniors MB Kristin Martin, MB Kaylee Murphree, and setter Brenna Mlinar.
Other All-Tournament selections were: Victoria Tindol, Abilene Christian; Kati Young, Leakey; Breanne Munn, Miles; Hannah Rogers, Water Valley; Lexi Koetter, Windthorst; Celesta Turnbow, Wink; Whitney Garland, Wink; Kaycee Baker, Bronte; Chelsea Meek, Bronte.
Next Action: Lindsay will travel to Gunter on Tuesday, September 1, for a rematch with Gunter. When these two teams met earlier this year, Gunter came away with a four-game win. Games begin at 5:00 with the 9th grade.
Stats for bracket play on Saturday were:
Brenna Mlinar -2 aces, 15 digs, 94 assists
Taylor Atkins -9 aces, 11 kills, 30 digs
Kristin Martin -4 aces, 41 kills, 15 blocks, 23 digs
Jordan Fleitman - 8 kills, 4 blocks, 7 digs
Alyx Ethington - 4 aces, 19 digs
Allison Metzler - 14 kills, 5 blocks, 2 digs
Kaylee Murphree - 56 kills, 20 blocks, 7 digs
Jessica Thurman - 6 aces, 13 digs
Photos by Jay Anderle