Amarillo High volleyball completes run to CCISD Spikefest title with sweep
Amarillo High volleyball coach Mike Moffitt was looking for a tournament for his squad to give it a chance to see some different competition in a different part of the state.
Moffitt found that tournament a long way from the Panhandle.
But by Saturday afternoon, the Sandies, who have won multiple state championships as a program, were adding some more hardware to their trophy case. Amarillo High completed its dominant run through the annual Corpus Christi ISD SpikeFest with a two-set victory against Veterans Memorial at Ray High School, but more importantly the trip allowed his squad to experience playing some new teams in another part of the state with different styles of play.
"It was so good, we come off a first game win and we knew expectations were high for this tournament," said Amarillo High's Blair Pennington, who was named the tournament's Defensive Most Valuable Player. "We knew we were going to see good competition and we just came out here thinking one game at a time, one set at a time, I thought everyone did amazing."
Moffitt said he began looking for a different tournament way back at the start of the calendar year, and wanted to "do something else." He said the Sandies had traditionally gone to a tournament around Austin the third weekend of the season, but decided not to return and found a replacement for that tournament in Dallas. Then he found the SpikeFest to fill a gap the first week of the season. The road trip fit because Amarillo High does not start school until Aug. 15.
Moffitt said he saw teams such as Flour Bluff that had similar records had been coming to the tournament and decided to make the trip. The program fundraised to pay for plane tickets for the squad, and was planning on spending Saturday night after the tournament seeing some of the sites of Corpus Christi.
Amarillo High defeated Millsap and Sharyland Pioneer on Saturday in bracket play, and topped Palacios, Flour Bluff and London in pool play. All were sweeps.
"We are always seeking competition and teams that we don't always see," Moffitt said. "Going to Dallas the next two weekends, its a lot of the same people we always see, so we are trying to mix it up and see different styles of play. We saw that, and we saw some fantastic athletes here and had some really good matches and came out with a win, so we are happy about it.
"This is our one big flight, and we'll be on a bus the rest of the year," Moffitt said.
Veterans Memorial learned plenty on way to runner-up finish
Veterans Memorial coach Jenny Garcia said she learned plenty about the team on the way to Saturday's final against Amarillo High. The Eaglese defeated Goliad in three sets in the first bracket play match on Saturday and then topped Port Lavaca Calhoun in two sets.
"I learned that the girls are playing really well together," Garcia said. "Dealing with adversity, and the chemistry is really good and they are not giving up. I'm learning that they are going to compete until the end."
High School Volleyball Corpus Christi ISD Spikefest high school volleyball tournament scores, schedule
High School Volleyball Top performers from first week of the Corpus Christi-area high school volleyball season
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Amarillo High volleyball tops Veterans Memorial for Spikefest title
