Friday, March 29, 2024

Hornets fly high in opening day of volleyball invitational

Posted

A perfect sweep of Thursday opponents in the Gatesville Volleyball Invitational propelled the Gatesville Hornet volleyball team to a semifinal showdown against Jarrell on Saturday, but it was the first-day dominance against Lampasas, Llano and McGregor that GHS fans will likely want to focus on.

On opening day of the tournament, the Hornets took down the Lampasas Lady Badgers. upended the Llano Lady Tigers and then topped the McGregor Lady Bulldogs.

Although Saturday results were unavailable by deadline, the MaxPreps high school sports website noted that Jarrell played Lubbock Monterey for the championship that day.

GHS head coach Janey Weber said the team started off slow Thursday, “then started playing good volleyball. The girls came out with some fire and showed some I&E” (intensity and energy).

“Everyone stepped up - the whole team in general performed well, especially against Llano. The big thing that helped us in the third game was our serving. Also, the girls were aggressive and got the ball in play.”

The Hornets started off slowly against Llano, and then quickly turned things around.

“We seemed like a completely different team (in the third and deciding game),” Weber said. “Sometimes it takes them a little while to warm up but then they go on a rally.

“Communication was a big part in turning things around. There was a lack of it early on, and then they took over in games two and three.”

Weber said it was exciting for the team to play multiple games in front of the home crowd “and it was a great environment. We had some of the basketball and football boys show up to cheer us on and we really appreciate that. It definitely helped to energize our girls when the crowd got behind us.”

Members of the Hornet varsity volleyball team for 2022 include:

* Vania Martinez, sophomore

* Barrett Boyd, junior

* Laura Trejo, junior

* Ally Penrod, sophomore

* Rachel Garrett, senior

* Charlee Barron, senior

* Emma Pollard, freshman

* Loa Barron, senior

* Khloe Mathews, senior

Also in tournament action, the junior varsity defeated Llano and McGregor, while the freshmen defeated Belton, and lost to Llano and McGregor.

The Hornets were scheduled to host Glen Rose on Tuesday (all three teams) while the varsity will travel to East Texas to play in the Athens Tournament Aug. 25-27. Gatesville is set to host the KIlleen varsity, JV and freshmen on Aug. 30.