Dawgs or 'Stangs? - There Can be Just One....

Both Magnolia and Kingwood are both in unchartered waters here in the Pearland Tournament, as fate would have it...neither team has been this far into this tournament before. So far this year, both teams have had a relatively low profile 'under the radar' and under the glare of the bright lights of the state's volleyball media (though our Magnolia Lady Bulldogs have been turning some heads lately) but,..... not any more! A chance to finish in the upper echelon of the state's (and nation's) largest and most prestigious high school tournament will mean your volleyball program will become well known and compared to some of the best teams out there, so there's really "no turning back now"!

The Lady Bulldogs knew they were in for a dogfight against Kingwood.

Here's a nice dig by Kristen Bergen playing in the back row.

The championship trophy for the Gold Consolation Bracket is waiting for it's new owner and both teams want it....bad! It has boiled down to this: 64 of the finest high school volleyball programs in the state have converged on the Pearland High School campus to have it out on the volleyball courts and to decide who will be the (early) favorite team to win the 2006 state championship! It's also a great time to compare how your program stacks up against others and to begin working on the things that may need fixing. The Gold Consolation Bracket is comprised of 16 teams who had advanced from the first round but suffered their only loss in the second round against teams that went on through a maze of bracket play to hopefully get to the Gold Championship Bracket and finish as the top team. The winner of the Gold Consolation Bracket is projected to finish around 7th or 8th (worst case) overall....not bad at all: 8th out of 64... that's the top 12% (if my math skills serve me correctly)!

Which brings us to this first set against the Kingwood Lady Mustangs who is equally fired up and wanting to be noticed with a talented squad of returning lettermen from last year's team (who incidentally, was one of the favorites to win the 2005 Pearland tournament). The Lady Bulldogs took control from the beginning - starting with Michele Williams' 3 kills (out of the game's first 8 points) keeping Magnolia in charge with the score at 5-3; then staying out in front of the Lady Mustangs with a kill from Alicia Shaffer at 7-4; then following up with a Hannah Fort blocked point at 10-4. Kingwood tightened it up a bit, but Kelli Stewart had a couple of kills at 12-9 and 13-10 for the Lady Bulldogs and a backrow shot from Michele Williams kept Magnolia in a (seemingly) 3 point comfort zone. Kingwood began their charge at crunch time and tied it up and had just jumped on top 19-18 in Set #1, when this file picks up...

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