Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Lady Mustangs Finish 4th in Home Tourney

GHS Volleyball

By John English

Contributing Writer

For Grapevine volleyball coach Diane Wilson, the team’s recent home tournament was an opportunity for the Lady Mustangs.

Whether or not her team took full advantage of that opportunity, in her mind, is a little unclear.

"It was an opportunity to see a wide variety of talent and see how the girls did or did not establish the pace of the game," Wilson said.

"At times, they showed the ability to establish the pace, and at other times, they struggled with that."

Grapevine finished 3-3 in the tournament, with victories against Weatherford, Sam Houston and Ursuline along the way.

Grapevine defeated Mansfield 3-2 on Tuesday night to improve its season record to 5-4.

Wilson said there are areas where her team looked very strong in the tournament, but other areas where she feels Grapevine needs work.

"I have seen an improvement in our defense, and our serving was much better," Wilson said.

"I thought offensively, we still need to improve our consistency and our ability to terminate."

There were 16 teams in the Grapevine tournament, with Grapevine finishing fourth overall.

Wilson said Torie Padia had a great tournament, earning all-tournament team honors, and Kelsey Odom had a strong performance throughout the competition.

Grapevine participates in the Allen tournament this weekend, and Wilson said she is going to be looking for her team to give a strong effort each and every game.

"This is going to be one where there is no off time," Wilson said.

"We are going to have to improve our consistency, and that’s really what I’m going to gauge success on this time, is, did we continue to improve on that defense that we saw this last weekend and are we able to close out a game that we put ourselves into a lead."

The Lady Mustangs’ final tournament will take place next weekend at Pearland, and Wilson said she believes her team will be in good shape by the time that district rolls around.

"I like the progression of our tournaments," Wilson said.

"We started with a smaller tournament in ours, build to a 32-team tournament at Allen, and then finish with a tournament that is well-known throughout the state in Pearland that has 72 teams. That’s a good progression and build-up toward district."