Central Texas high school volleyball playoffs heat up with area Class 6A teams on a roll

The high school volleyball playoffs were to begin Monday night and continue Tuesday, highlighted by district champion Lake Travis hosting Stony Point and Round Rock hosting Austin High. Other top matchups Tuesday include defending Class 6A state champion Dripping Springs at Vista Ridge, Cedar Park against Kerrville Tivy, Liberty Hill playing Smithson Valley, Burnet playing Waco Robinson and Jarrell playing China Spring.

Three TAPPS powerhouses have home matches as St. Michael’s hosts Midland Christian, defending state champion Round Rock Christian plays Katy Faith West and Brentwood Christian hosts Geneva Boerne Christian.

Around the area

Weekend play had two seeding matches as Georgetown swept Hendrickson to capture District 23-5A's top spot while Giddings beat Taylor in four sets to earn the top seed in 22-4A. In a nondistrict tuneup, Stony Point had a third straight tremendous outing as the Tigers beat Westwood a week ago Friday to clinch at least a tie for a playoff berth, then secured its first trip to the playoffs since 2017 by beating first-place Round Rock in five sets last Tuesday.  Last Friday, the Tigers had a warmup match with eight-time Class 5A district champion Rouse and beat the Raiders in five sets.  Stony Point heads to Lake Travis tonight to play the favored Cavaliers.

In that 17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12 win over Rouse, Carrie Weston led Stony Point with 15 digs and 15 kills to go with five blocks. Kierra Hernandez dished out 15 assists while Kylee Bagley added 14 assists with five kills.  Addison Deba added nine kills. Rouse was led by Jayden Wilgus' match-high 20 kills, Jade Key's 18 kills and 10 digs, Naara Tanco's 12 kills, Mary Schirpik's 21 digs and Savannah Skopal's 55 assists and 12 digs.

Giddings prevails: Giddings beat Taylor in a seeding contest 25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22; Haley Harms had 18 kills for the Ducks while Ansley Reed added 12 and Hannah Wamble nine. Makenna Watson and Hannah Wamble had 21 digs each.

Power warmup: In one of the most evenly matched warmup matches in recent history, Highland Park beat Dripping Springs 25-27, 27-25, 27-25, 25-27, 15-13, a five-set match with a net differential of just two points, with Highland Park collecting 119 points to 117 for Dripping Springs, which got 31 kills by Henley Anderson and 13 by Riley Certain.

Final-week roundup

Westlake tops Lake Travis: Westlake finished third in 25-6A after beating Lake Travis 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22. Dripping Springs, which beat Bowie 25-19, 25-17, 17-25, 25-18 behind 17 kills each from Certain and Anderson, finished second. Austin High was fourth. Johnson closed the regular season by beating Anderson 25-18, 31-29, 21-25, 25-23. Del Valle beat Akins.

Stony Point, Westwood have big wins: In 25-6A, Carrie Weston slammed 18 kills with 20 digs and two blocks as Stony Point beat Round Rock 25-19, 23-25, 18-25, 25-17, 15-11 and Westwood beat Cedar Ridge 26-24, 25-11, 26-24.

The final standings have Round Rock first followed by Vandegrift, Vista Ridge and Stony Point. The Tigers' win over Round Rock sends them back to playoffs for the first time since 2017. Westwood is fifth, despite its winning district record. This is the first time the Warriors have missed postseason play since 2019.

In Westwood's sweep of Cedar Ridge, Julia Hopkins and Rachel Cai led the way. ... Vandegrift swept Manor while Vista Ridge beat McNeil 20-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-13. Setter Jasmin Dion had 46 assists with five digs, three kills and three blocks while Jennavee Jensen slammed 21 kills with six digs and Avery Place added seven kills and two blocks.

Around Class 5A

Georgetown gets the nod: In District 23-5A, co-leaders Georgetown and Hendrickson settled their co-championship with the Eagles' seeding win Friday 25-19, 25-20, 27-25. Hendrickson was led by Kara Wynn's 11 kills and nine digs while Kamea Uitenham added 10 kills and Eva Marie Thompson finished with five.

Knights rule district: McCallum beat Ann Richards in four sets to win District 24-5A while LASA finished second and Ann Richards third. Crockett finished fourth.

Co-champions: Rouse and Liberty Hill closed as co-champions in District 25-5A after the Raiders beat Lehman 25-10, 25-12, 25-13. Skopal had 17 assists to give her 5,312 for her career, including 1,345 this season. Liberty Hill shared the title and won the coin flip for seeding as the Panthers beat Lockhart 25-19, 25-19, 25-6. ... Cedar Park swept Hays 25-16, 25-14, 25-17 as Joy Udoye led the Timberwolves with 12 kills while Makayla White had seven for Hays. ... Glenn beat Leander 25-22, 25-13, 25-16 to drop the Lions out of a tie with Cedar Park; Glenn missed the playoffs by one match, but its 24 wins are the most in school history.

Class 4A/others

Elsewhere, Wimberley finished second in district by beating Canyon Lake 25-20, 25-19, 25-12 as Laney Hennessee had 16 kills and eight digs while Jesse Weeks had 19 assists and Addison Parks had six blocks. ... In 22-4A, Taylor swept Smithville 25-12, 25-19, 25-23 while Giddings beat Caldwell 25-13, 25-15, 25-15. La Grange beat Manor New Tech 25-9, 25-15, 25-12. Giddings and Taylor tied for first with Giddings winning the seeding match while La Grange was third and Caldwell fourth. ... Round Rock Christian (34-9) beat 12-6A playoff qualifier Hutto in a warmup match. Chayse Wilson led RRCA with 22 kills and 13 digs while Rachel Millikan had 19 kills and 23 digs.

Fab Fives

Class 6A

1. Lake Travis 41-5

2. Westlake 34-11

3. Dripping Springs 44-6

4. Weiss 27-8

5. Austin 28-13

Class 5A

1. Liberty Hill 39-8

2. Georgetown 32-15

3. Rouse 36-13

4. McCallum 28-17

5. Hendrickson 31-7

Class 4A/others

1. St. Michael’s 38-9

2. Round Rock Christian 34-9

3. Thrall 28-7

4. Wimberley 31-7

5. Gateway College Prep 23-12

Westlake's Davis heats up for playoffs

Player of the week: Lily Davis, jr., Westlake. Davis led the Chaps to their seventh straight win when she pounded 22 kills and added 18 digs in the win over Lake Travis. Davis, who is committed to play beach volleyball at Texas, has sparked the Chaparrals' seven-match winning streak; in that span, Westlake has outscored opponents 21-3 in sets.

Previous players of the week: Henley Anderson, Dripping Springs; Kealy Dirner, Liberty Hill; Sara Randall, Weiss; Chayse Wilson, Round Rock Christian; Riley Clinton, Round Rock; Alex Beauchamp, Vandegrift; Savannah Skopal, Rouse; Avery Hamlin, Lake Travis; Mora Mooney, St. Michael’s; Jasmin Dion, Vista Ridge; Kylee Bagley, Stony Point

High-flying Eagles honored

Team of the week: Georgetown. The Eagles swept Hendrickson on Friday night to claim the top seed in District 13-5A after splitting two district meetings with the Hawks. Georgetown swept East View and Bastrop to set up Friday's 25-19, 25-20, 27-25 win. The Eagles are 32-15.

Previous teams of the week: Austin High, Lake Travis,  Stony Point, St. Michael’s Academy, McCallum, Dripping Springs, Lake Travis, Bowie, Westwood, Westlake, Taylor

This week's playoff schedule

Tuesday

Cedar Park vs. Kerrville Tivy, 5:30 p.m., San Antonio Davenport

Boerne Geneva Christian at Brentwood Christian, 6 p.m.

Katy Faith West at Round Rock Christian, 6 p.m.

Liberty Hill vs. Smithson Valley, 6 p.m., San Antonio Johnson

Austin High at Round Rock, 6:30 p.m.

Dripping Springs at Vista Ridge, 6:30 p.m.

Jarrell vs. China Spring, 6:30 p.m., Belton

Stony Point at Lake Travis, 6:30 p.m.

Weiss vs. Waxahachie, 6:45 p.m., Waco University

Burnet vs. Robinson, 7 p.m., East View

Midland Christian at St. Michael’s, 7 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: High school volleyball playoffs begin this week