Coming off a tough loss against Hebron last Tuesday night, the Lady Wildcats arrived at the Allen Texas Open with high hopes of showing improvement and gaining momentum going into the Pearland Tournament next weekend.

The Allen Tournament started out with mixed results, as the Lady Wildcats played a total of 4 matches Friday and went for 2 wins and 2 losses.

Pool play began with a loss to McKinney Boyd (17-25, 11-25). Along with the loss came some bad news.

Freshman Bonnie Vernon, who plays Middle for the Wildcats, went down with an ankle sprain and will likely be out for at least 4 weeks.

The Wildcats bounced back strong from the loss, however, and took Parish Episcopal in two games, (25-21 and 25-22).

The win allowed the team to advance after finishing 2nd in their pool.

In their third match on Friday, the Lady Wildcats faced off against Guyer High School and won the match in 2 games, (25-17 and 25-22).

However, the crossover match against Sachse didn’t go as well. The Wildcats lost in 3 games, (15-25, 27-22 and 20-25).

After going 2-2 the first day of the tournament, the Wildcats rebounded and went undefeated on Saturday, winning all four matches they played.

The day started bright and early with an 8:00 a.m. match against District 9-5A rival, Berkner. The Wildcats came away with a victory, winning in straight games (25-16 and 25-15).

The team showed a lot of fight in the third match of the day. After losing the first game against Rowlett, the Lady Wildcats re-focused and went on to defeat Rowlett in 3 games, (18-25, 25-20 and 25-22).

Gaining some momentum, the Lady Wildcats also defeated Martin in straight games (25-14, 25-18), which put them in Challenger Bracket Championship Game, where they faced and defeated John Paul in straight games (25-14, 25-18).

Head Coach Melissa Christman commented on the team performance at the tournament.

“We played well on the second day in the challenger bracket,” said Christman.

“We played up all day, and we played as a team in spite of the fact that we weren’t happy with how we finished on Friday."

"I’m proud of the girls, and I'm glad we came out on top of the challenger bracket.”

Stand out players at the tournament included sophomore Matalee Reed for most kills & most aces, senior Rachel Peters for most assists, and senior Christina Flanagan for most digs

"Christina dug lights out all weekend," said Coach Christman.

Congrats to the Lady Wildcats and good luck to Bonnie with her rehab!

Our thanks to Lady 'Cats parent Mike Trostel for the winning photo.