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Showing some heart: Lady Leopards advance to finals of Texas Open
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Lovejoy volleyball head coach Ryan Mitchell spent the early part of the week reviewing film from his team's last couple matches Saturday at the Texas Open in Allen.
Mitchell didn't need to see the matches again, he needed to see them for the first time as he was in the hospital while the Lady Leopards defeated McKinney Boyd in the quarterfinals and Southlake Carroll in the semifinals before losing the championship match to Coppell for a second straight year.
"I was having chest pains, cold sweats and my arm was tingling during that Boyd match," Mitchell said. "I really thought I might be having a heart attack, so I got taken to the hospital and they ran some tests."
"They ruled out the most serious issues," he said, "but still aren't sure what is wrong."
Mitchell had to remain for further testing Saturday while his team played on.
Lovejoy finished off Boyd (25-16, 26-17), but were short coaches heading into the semis against Carroll as assistants Erin McClanahan and Amy Puente were at a JV tournament. In stepped eighth grade coach Tandi Morgan and the Lady Leopards did the rest, beating the Duncanville Tournament of Champion winners (26-28, 25-22, 25-14). This was Lovejoy's second win over the No. 1 Class 5A team in the state in the past four days as the Lady Leopards went on the road and swept the Lady Dragons last Wednesday.
McClanahan and Puente were back for the championship match against Coppell.
That represented a rematch on multiple levels as the Cowgirls and Lady Leopards had played in the Duncanville semifinals a week prior and in the finals of last year's Texas Open with Coppell winning both matches.
Early on, it appeared as though Saturday's match would be no different.
The Cowgirls took Game 1 25-19 and held a commanding 22-14 advantage in Game 2 before the Lady Leopards blitzed back to close on an 11-1 run thanks to some big digs from senior defensive specialist/libero Brooke Ray and clutch serves by senior outside hitter Mallorie Puckett. Lovejoy's 25-23 win evened the match.
The Lady Leopards put pressure on again late in Game 3, holding championship points at 25-24 and 27-26. The Cowgirls, however, showed why they are the defending Class 5A State Champions and a force to be reckoned with again in 2012 as they finished with a 4-1 spurt to win the tournament, 30-28.
"Obviously we want to win these tournaments," Mitchell said, "so we need to do some work on closing out games."
There may not be much else to work on though because prior to the semifinals, Lovejoy had not so much as let an opponent reach the 20s in Allen let alone lose a set.
"The girls played really well," Mitchell said. "They seemed more relaxed and there weren't as many highs and lows; we skipped the rollercoaster and just played consistently good volleyball."
Leading the way senior middle blocker Ebony Nwanebu, a USC commit, junior middle/outside Katelyn McKenzie and freshman middle Sarah Langs, all of whom were named all-tournament. Already one of the top players in the Class of 2013, Nwanebu appears to have stepped up her game since getting benched for last season's Class 3A State Tournament.
"I'm not sure if it because of that, but Ebony has been a different player this year," Mitchell said. "She is playing at a different level when it comes to her hitting, her passing, her defense; she just steps onto the court and dominates."
That much was evident during Friday's opening rounds.
Lovejoy swept through pool play with wins over Coronado (25-16, 25-17), McKinney (25-14, 25-12) and Amarillo (25-19, 25-11). The last of those wins was particularly notable as the Golden Sandies are ranked No. 4 in the state for Class 4A.
"We knew Amarillo was supposed to be one of the best teams in the state and we had that one circled because we want to separate ourselves as one of the best," Mitchell said. "And we played a great match there; we were really good with our ball control, stayed in system the entire match and served them off the court."
Lovejoy ended Friday and started Saturday in the same manner with a win over Rockwall-Heath (25-14, 25-14) in the crossover match and a victory against Keller (25-15, 25-13) to begin the championship bracket and a wild day for the program.
That day ended with the Lady Leopards placing second at the Texas Open.
"The first day we got out to a great start," Mitchell said, "and then continued to play well the rest of the weekend and showed improvement in our level of play, which is what you want to see in these tournaments."
Lovejoy, which was bested by Coppell once more Tuesday (25-22, 25-23, 25-21) has one tournament remaining, starting today as the No. 2 seed in the 79-team NIKE Pearland Volleyball Classic.
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