George Ranch vs. Fort Bend Austin – Top Performers
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The high school volleyball season continues to progress at full pace in the state of Texas and, just like that, we’re already into the second month of action in the Lone Star State. Prep Dig will be following the action…
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Continue ReadingThe high school volleyball season continues to progress at full pace in the state of Texas and, just like that, we’re already into the second month of action in the Lone Star State.
Prep Dig will be following the action closely and every match I get to attend will be followed with a Top Performers Report, highlighting the prospects who stood out on the court, and a photo gallery.
On Friday, September 29, our destination was Richmond, where the George Ranch Longhorns hosted the Fort Bend Austin Bulldogs in both teams’ tenth match in district 20.
It was a close match, with a lot of back and forth in each set, but the Longhorns ended up securing a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20) to get to 8-2 in third place in district play (20-14 overall). The Bulldogs sit right above them in the standings with the same eight wins and two losses, having a 22-14 win record for the season.
Top Performers
The sophomore outside hitter was easily the most influential player in George Ranch’s victory, leading the team’s offense and doing a good job on the backcourt. Coy was set 32 times during the match and converted half of her attempts into points, many of which in difficult situations, tallying 16 kills. The outside hitter displayed great variation with offense and scored in clutch moments, scoring the game-winning point in each set and showing great maturity. Coy also registered three blocks and handled all six serves that went her way extremely well.
Hailey Forshee
Hailey Forshee
The senior libero had an amazing performance, contributing on both sides of the ball. Forshee was extremely efficient on the backcourt, getting a team-high 21 digs, and also covered a lot of ground on serve-receive, being tasked with 25 of the team’s 51 passes (and delivering most of them accurately). The libero was also tremendously impactful from the service line as, despite producing a match-high six aces, she also had long runs every time she made it to the service line, ending the match with 18 serving attempts – many of those runs happened in key moments and helped the Longhorns take the lead. Forshee was also very reliable and consistent when she had to set in transition.
Makayla Thompson
Makayla Thompson
Thompson came off the bench on set two and was very important with her blocking. Despite not being very tall, she got off the floor extremely well and moved around very quickly, constantly placing Austin’s hitters in difficult situations. She had a match-high five blocks in just two sets and also made a lot of impact with her aggressiveness above the net, forcing opposing hitters to spike away from her blocking and sending them directly into defense or out.
George Ranch’s heavy-hitter had somewhat of a slow start to the match, not getting set very often and registering a couple of errors. Bryant found her rhythm during the second set, making great use of her offensive range, and became a key piece for the Longhorns, scoring from everywhere on the court and siding out in big moments for the team. The outside hitter also registered six digs and five passes and played an important leadership role, keeping her teammates engaged and motivated the entire time.
Bailey Blackburn
Bailey Blackburn
Blackburn was Austin’s most consistent and productive player throughout the match. The outside hitter used her frame and technical skills very offensively and was the player in her team who found the best solutions to score against George Ranch’s heavy blockers, often tooling them and catching defenders off guard with her tips and roll shots. Despite being set quite often, she made very few errors, except from a difficult run at the end of set three.
Gabrielle Kennedy
Gabrielle Kennedy
Austin had some struggles with their passing, but Kennedy didn’t have a lot of responsibility in that as she handled the serves that went her way very well for the most part. The junior libero also had good production on defense and was very active on the backcourt, getting a lot of touches. Kennedy also had good moments with her serving and helped the Bulldogs have some good runs and score consecutive points.