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Varsity started the week 36-2, 13-0 in District play. Stratford was ranked 3rd in the Texas Volleyball Insiders rankings of 6A teams and 10th among state 6A teams by MaxPreps. The Spartans sat alone atop the District standings with a chance to clinch sole possession of the 17-6A District title in this week’s action.
To finish District play, and capture its third straight District title, Stratford would host Memorial. The Mustangs had only one loss in District - to Stratford. While a Stratford win would give them the District title outright, a Memorial win would mean sharing the title with the Mustangs … and who would want that?
Multiple scores by Gwen Koss, Milena Miladinovic, and Tess Stephenson helped the Spartans to sprint to the lead, and an Audrey Cook setter dump forced a Mustang timeout at 13-8. Several more scores by Koss and Avery Kent stretched out the lead, and a Sydney Hatcher kill and a Logan Sykes ace sealed the first set 25-17 for Varsity.
A short run of errors early had Stratford down 2-7 in the second set. A Stephenson-Cook combo block and a Lauren Dunwoody tip kill helped claw the Spartans back into the set, and a long run of Gwen Koss scores helped finally tie it up. A pair of Kent kills, a Brooke McAfee ace, and a monster Dunwoody solo block cracked open a small lead. From a 13-13 tie, Varsity outpaced the Mustangs 12-1 to take the second set going away. Defense helped stifle the Memorial attack throughout much of the set, with acrobatic back-row play by Rachel Ashby, Sykes, Cook, and McAfee keeping the Mustangs off the board. Fueling the scoring at the end to take the second set were scores by Dunwoody, Sykes, Stephenson, and Cook.
The third set started off with a bang on the strength of scores by Cook, Koss, and Kent. A Miladinovic-Dunwoody combo block forced a Mustang timeout at 5-1. The timeout did Memorial no good, and they were forced to burn their last timeout at 9-2 after a pair of scores by Kent. The lead never waned thanks to scoring by Koss, Cook, Kent, and Stephenson. A Caroline White ace made it 14-6, and multiple scores by Kent and Dunwoody made it 23-12. Stratford closed out the set and match 25-12 on the strength of hammer shots by Cook and Koss.
While the playoffs loomed large on the horizon, the team was able to enjoy a brief trophy ceremony, with Principal Barnes presenting Coach Adcock and the team the 17-6A District trophy for the third straight season.
This week’s win left Stratford with a 37-2 record for the regular season and 14-0 in District play. The season record is the highest regular-season winning percentage in program history.
First up in playoffs is a Monday first round match against Westside High School (13-16 overall, 6-6 in District). The match will take place Monday at 5 pm at Delmar Fieldhouse. If Stratford advances, the team would have an Area round matchup on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday TBA.
This week’s stats include: