By TERRY COOKSTON
CNHI
Rockwall County —
Rockwall-Heath’s Lady Hawk volleyball team captured the Gold Bracket title at the Garland ISD Invitational last weekend with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Rockwall’s Lady Jackets.
RHHS led up to the bracket championship match with four straight wins on Friday at Rowlett High School.
The Lady Hawks defeated South Galand 2-0 (25-19, 25-11), bested Episcopal School of Dallas 2-0 (25-10, 25-21) and knocked off Richardson 2-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-14) to go undefeated in division play. They also defeated North Mesquite 2-1 (17-25, 25-15, 25-17) in first-round championship bracket action on Friday.
Against South Garland Regina Tillis pounded nine kills, Caley Carpenter smashed four, Claire Carpenter had 11 straight service points, Ciara Ryan-Todd posted seven and Aubree Baune, Ashley McClintic and Tillis recorded blocks.
Morgan Hawkins ran off 12 straight service points with two kills in Game 1 against Episcopal School and seven straight in Game 2. Caley Carpenter led the way in kills with seven, Tillis added six and Ryan-Todd three in the win.
In RHHS’s final division win over Richardson Tillis racked up 13 kills and Ryan-Todd 10 to lead the Lady Hawks into first-round championship play.
Hebron transfer Monica Shockley also made an impact with six straight service points, including an ace, and three kills after returning from a Friday morning district meeting that ruled her eligible to play.
Heath then closed out a perfect 4-0 day on Friday with a victory over North Mesquite. Tillis put up eight kills and a block to lead the Lady Hawks into the championship second round at Sachse on Saturday.
The ladies lost to Rowlett 2-0 (25-20, 25-18) in second-round action, but rebounded in Saturday’s third round to defeat TCA-Addison 2-0 (25-22, 27-25) and set up the battle with Rockwall in the Gold Bracket final.
Against RHS the Lady Hawks won the first game 25-22 with Ryan-Todd smashing two kills in the final three points, lost the second 20-25 after giving up a 12-7 early lead and defeated the Lady Jackets 25-19 in Game 3 with Tillis killing four consecutive shots to close out the match and the tournament for both Rockwall and Heath.
When asked about the Lady Hawks success at the tournament head coach Maggie Younger summarized “I would say it was a total team effort, especially in the win over Rockwall. We’ve really been focusing on that this year.”
Sachse won the overall tournament championship in an all-Garland district final with a 2-0 (25-22, 25-22) victory over Rowlett.
RHHS was scheduled to travel to Emory Rains for a regular-season match on Tuesday and to Lewisville this weekend for the Lewisville Invitational.
