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E-mail This StoryWelcome to district play.
Admission is free for the teams that have paid their dues. Others will be required to spend every resource at their disposal to cut the check. Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Reserved spots will only become available in late October and restricted to just four lucky contestants that obtain VIP status before the certification date Nov. 1. District 9-4A reserves the right to refuse service to any customer.
When the real season gets under way tonight, the past month of action loses all significance. Meal tickets are punched by the teams that display a healthy appetite to continue playing into the postseason. It is a free for all that is sure to create interesting storylines with enough subplots to keep fans hungry for more. Half of the teams will make the grade, the other half will be sent home on an empty stomach.
The possibilities are fascinating. Could all four Frisco ISD teams make the playoffs? Will the two 4A newcomers in Liberty and Wakeland supplant the more well-established programs at Frisco and Centennial? Or will McKinney, Sherman, Denison and McKinney North take the cake?
Frisco
Non-district record: 5-15-1
Signature win: North Mesquite
Tough loss: Liberty
2007 district record: 5-9, sixth in 9-4A
Perhaps more than any team in the area that begins district play today, the Lady Raccoons are happy non-district is behind them. Not much has gone right over the past month for Frisco. Injuries and sporadic play have kept the team from realizing its potential to this point.
In nine of the 15 losses, Frisco has failed to take a single game from the opponent. At times the point totals in the losing effort have been respectable, such as in a five-game setback to Mesquite Horn on Tuesday, 25-21, 26-24, 20-25, 15-25, 8-15. Other times the squad has looked completely overpowered (Sept. 2 against Colleyville Heritage).
All season long head coach Janie Litchford has dismissed the slow start, instead focusing her attention on “Sept. 12.” That day has finally arrived for the Lady Raccoons, who will soon find out if the coach’s assertions were just smoke and mirrors to deflect attention or if the players were saving their best for when it matters most.
Wakeland
Non-district record: 7-11
Signature win: Bonham
Tough loss: Princeton
2007 district record: 12-2, second in 9-3A
The Lady Wolverines struggled in non-district play with the transition to a higher classification. They will perhaps get the biggest test of the season right out of the box when they face Liberty today in the 9-4A opener.
Head coach Kim Watson said her team “turned the corner” by taking third in the silver bracket in the FISD Tournament. The squad then turned around and lost a close five-game match to a mediocre Princeton club. Not that beating perennial punching bag Little Elm is much to hang your hat on, but Wakeland did so convincingly Tuesday in three games. And they still have senior middle blocker Sydnee Hilburn, one of the top dual threat players in the district. Hilburn has been sidelined recently with an ankle injury, but is one of the top area forces at the net, averaging .94 blocks per game. Darcy Cruikshank is beginning to assert herself as a leader. Watson cited mental toughness and self-assurance as one reason the Lady Wolverines have struggled to a sub. 500 non-district record. The tough schedule has played its part, too.
“Physically we can hang with anybody,” she said. “This group has what it takes.”
It will take a good degree of consistency. Off-nights in 9-3A often meant getting stretched to four or five games before still prevailing. With a couple of exceptions, bad nights now equate to bad records.
Centennial
Non-district record: 12-11
Signature win: Argyle
Tough loss: Mesquite Poteet
2007 district record: 11-3, second in 9-4A
It sure looks like the Lady Titans are on a collision course with a fourth consecutive playoff berth after a strong non-district campaign. Centennial reeled off seven victories in the first nine matches in August, including a five-game win over state-ranked Argyle, before losing five of the next six to quality competition.
The team enters district play coming off of two straight setbacks to Richardson and Rowlett. Even in losses, though, Centennial has hung tough and catalogued high point totals. If history serves, the Lady Titans are prime position to make another run. In 2007, they won eight of the first nine non-district games before dropping the next four. That season ended with an 11-3 district mark and one of three playoff spots in 9-4A.
The squad opens up today against Denison, which it dispatched in two games (25-5, 25-21) in the Frisco ISD Tournament. The Yellow Jackets simply don’t have enough in the arsenal to get by Centennial. Will the rest of the district?
Liberty
Non-district record: 17-6-1
Signature win: Prosper
Tough loss: Lovejoy
2007 district record: 6-8, fourth in 9-3A
The Lady Redhawks have played better than any team in the district to this point. The reward is a pat on the back for a job well done. It means nothing from here on.
Liberty nearly made the playoffs in 2007 coming out of a weak District 9-3A. They will have to produce a much better mark than 6-8 if they want to go dancing in ’08. That shouldn’t be a problem for a cast that includes potential first-team all-district talents in setter Paris Perret and outside hitters Loren Byerly and El Kale. Kale is one of the area leaders in blocks, averaging just under one per game. Senior Ashley Laible brings power off the serve and has 41 aces in 59 games.
The key for Liberty will be to remain consistent. It knocked off Prosper, the state’s seventh-ranked 3A team, in the opener and turned around dropped three of the next five matches. But the Lady Hawks enter district play on a roll, having won 11 of its last 12, including placing third in the championship bracket of the FISD Tournament. The rest of the district, beginning today with Wakeland, will have its hands full with an opponent that is eager to prove it can sustain success and belongs at this level.
The others
McKinney
Non-district record: 9-13
Signature win: Lake Dallas
Tough loss: Lovejoy
2007 district record: 7-7, fifth in 9-4A
McKinney North
Non-district record: 11-11-1
Signature win: Flower Mound
Tough loss: Greenhill
2007 district record: 7-7, fourth in 9-4A
Sherman
Non-district record: 7-15
Signature win: Sanger
Tough loss: Prosper
2007 district record: 2-10, sixth in 5-4A
Denison
Non-district record: 12-10
Signature win: Celina
Tough loss: Little Elm
2007 district record: 0-12, seventh in 5-4A
