Katy High is focused on the present.

The team knows there is pressure to perform this season after making it to the Class 6A regional final last season, but the Tigers are taking things one game at a time.

“They feel that little bit of pressure, especially coming off the type of season that we had last year, and I just have to keep reminding them that it’s a new team and a new season,” said Katy High head coach Karen Paxton. “We’re trying to get them to where they’re relaxed and having fun. This is a new season and we have areas of strength that are different from last year. We’re building on that and the key is just reminding them to have fun while they’re playing.”

The Tigers (10-10) handled the pressure fine on Tuesday facing Fort Bend Austin (6-12) as they swept the Bulldogs in three sets: 25-12, 25-11 and 25-7 at the Katy High gym.

“We really we’re just trying to work on things we needed to improve tonight and one thing we did was be better with our voices,” said senior middle blocker Jordan Gamble. “We definitely accomplished that tonight, we communicated, we made the right calls and just did a much better job on it than we had been.”

Katy High started slowly in the first set, but kicked it into gear and pulled away after letting the Bulldogs hang around for the first half of the set.

The Tigers found their groove in the second set and kept that going into the third as the team ran away with the match in the final two sets with a strong serve receive game and defense.

“We served really aggressively tonight and were able to move the ball around really well tonight,” Paxton said. “We weren’t simple with things and we were able to make things a little bit more complex. A lot of that had to do with our defense doing a great job putting us in the transition and then our setters did a good job as well.”

The Tigers have key players that return from their deep playoff run but also have a mixture of newcomers.

Mixing and matching who to play and when has been a key early in the season.

“Even with the amount we have returning we lost a lot of seniors last year, so it’s been different getting to know everyone and seeing everyone play together on the court,” said  But it’s been really nice to see people step out of their comfort zone and get out of their shells as we’ve grown together as a team.”

The Tigers have two weeks until the start of district and are looking to keep the chemistry and improvement going everyday to get to the level they need to be.

“I think that this team is capable of anything,” Gamble said. “We already have a lot of talent and we have new talent coming in. I think we can do big things this year.”

Katy High 3, Fort Bend Austin 0

Katy High 25, 25, 25

FB Austin 12, 11, 7

Highlights: (K) Maddie Waak 15 assists, 7 digs, 4 kills, 2 aces, 1 block; Jordan Gamble 9 kills, 4 blocks; Maddy Chappel, 8 kills, 1 block, 1 dig; Addison Chapman 4 kills, 1 block; Avery Prater 2 aces; Brooke Pagle 4 digs, 1 ace; Chandler Lee 6 kills, 2 digs, 1 block; Charlize Reyes 5 digs, 1 ace; Izabela Denton 11 digs, 2 assists, 3 aces; Jessie Leach 9 digs, 1 assist, Kailey Wyckoff 8 assists, 4 digs, 3 aces; Kaylea Marhofer 4 assists; Kennedy Pike 3 kills, 1 block.

Records: Katy High 10-10; Fort Bend Austin 6-12