Blocking away: Calallen blocks way past rival Tuloso-Midway to key volleyball match win
Calallen High School volleyball players and coaches knew the road to a District 31-4A championship would have to include some key victories, especially against neighborhood rival Tuloso-Midway.
The two teams were undefeated in league play entering Tuesday night's district match and thanks to some resiliency from Calallen and its stellar block, the Wildcats left the Cherokees' home gym with a an unblemished district mark after a 25-23, 25-27, 25-22, 25-19 victory.
"It's really important ... it is difficult playing as the away team, you saw their student section compared to ours it was a big difference," said Autumn Garza, who led the Wildcats with 11 kills and also had 19 assists. "You really have to be loud, you have to be screaming so your teammates can hear you. It was just really important."
Tuesday's highlights
The match was tight throughout, but it was Calallen's frontline blockers that included players such as Jordyn Thibodeaux, Taylor Paredez, Jadyn Lindgren and Ashley Robertson that kept T-M's offense from finding a rhythm to go on extended runs.
Thibodeaux and Paredez combined for eight blocks in the match with, Thibodeaux contributing five and Paredez three.
After a second-set loss, the Wildcats rebounded by scoring five of the eight points to win the third set and the final three points to win the fourth and the match.
Tuesday's stars
Grace Martinez contributed 27 assists for the Wildcats (21-8, 5-0 in 31-4A) and Lauren Dillon and Layla Hernandez each had 23 digs. Paredez also added nine kills and four service aces.
Ava Petri led the Cherokees (18-9, 4-1) with 17 kills and Bella Garcia added 16 with Laney Soza contributing a match-best 31 digs.
They said it
Calallen coach Ashley Pettus on the difference between the third and fourth sets to the second set: "I think our mentality changed in a way of not letting mistakes bother us. Whenever we made one mistake, that doesn't have a trickle effect to where we have two, three or four. We are going to put a stop to the ball and we are going to find a way to terminate so we can move on and get out of the rotation, and do better things on the court."
Tuloso-Midway coach Shelby Chapa on the difference in the match: "I think offensively, Calallen did a great job of putting up a big block against our outside hitters. Offensively, we just struggled to terminate that ball. They shut us down and we just couldn't adjust. Our serve-receive was awesome, and just in those moments we couldn't find a way to terminate the ball."
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Calallen's block key in volleyball road victory against Tuloso-Midway
