Cinco Ranch comes back from two sets down, Tompkins sweeps, Spartans fall in bi-district round

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 11/2/21

“It was amazing to win in five sets,” Atkinson said. “I was so excited for my team, the energy was so good. To know that we really fought for all five sets it was a great feeling. Now we just have to keep our momentum and keep the practice up.”

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Cinco Ranch comes back from two sets down, Tompkins sweeps, Spartans fall in bi-district round

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Down two sets to zero to George Ranch, Cinco Ranch didn’t panic.

Head coach Danielle Wells let her team talk in the huddle and remained confident in them.

“I didn’t go in there and give any speech, as a coach I let them talk and I let them figure it out,” Wells said. “Before we went into this match, I told them that they had to do the things that we practice, at that point they weren’t doing that. They talked about it and they came together after that.”

The chat between the players worked, as the Cougars (19-17) won the next three sets to take home a thrilling five set victory over George Ranch (28-14) in the Class 6A bi-district round on Tuesday at the Merrell Center.

All five sets were within six points as Cinco Ranch won 24-26, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-10 to advance.

The Cougars led the majority of the first set before George Ranch mounted a comeback to win 26-24, George Ranch controlled the second set, but Cinco mounted a furious comeback, but that wasn’t enough as the Longhorns took a two set to zero advantage.

“We just went into the huddle and talked about keeping the intensity,” said junior libero Kayla Atkinson. “We knew we had to clean things up a bit on our side and go out there and play our game. We knew if we did that we’d have a shot.”

The Cougars switched up their defense and it paid dividends. George Ranch made a match of things, as Cinco only led 17-16 at one point in the third set, but Cinco started to pull away and came out 25-21 winners. Cinco started to show a bit of dominance in the fourth set and pulled away in the fifth to complete the victory.

“It was really successful when we switched our defense,” Wells said. “We were keying in on certain things and our defense really picked up those last three sets, and our serve-receive was pretty on tonight, and that helped a lot.”

The Cougars will play Cy-Fair in the area round, date and time to be determined. The Bobcats swept Lamar in the first round.

“It was amazing to win in five sets,” Atkinson said. “I was so excited for my team, the energy was so good. To know that we really fought for all five sets it was a great feeling. Now we just have to keep our momentum and keep the practice up.”

Tompkins sweeps to advance

District 19-6A champion Tompkins (34-5) swept Fort Bend Austin (17-26) in three sets to advance to the area round of the playoffs. The Falcons will take on Stratford in the area round, date and time to be determined. Stratford swept Heights in its bi-district round matchup.

Seven Lakes falls in bi-district

The defending Class 6A champions were unable to make a run for the second straight year.

Facing District 20-6A champion Ridge Point (34-10), the Spartans (22-20) fell in three sets, 23-25, 18-25, 23-25.

The Spartans took the lead and stayed close in the first set. They had things tied at 22, but Ridge Point pulled away late to take the advantage.

Ridge Point controlled the second set and pulled away early, but Seven Lakes made a game of things late in the set. The Spartans were unable to do enough however and lost the set to go two down. Seven Lakes fought in the third set and led late, but again Ridge Point made a charge to win the set and the match.

Ridge Point will move on to play Houston Memorial in the area round.

Cinco Ranch, Seven Lakes, Tompkins, Katy ISD, volleyball, sports