By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
Austin High put down 40 kills in a show of offensive prowess to stamp their ticket to the playoffs in front of a home crowd Tuesday night.
The Maroons swept Lake Travis 25-16, 25-22, 25-8 with a combined 40 kills and a team hitting percentage of .391. In the third set alone, Austin High’s hitting percentage was .560 with only one hitting error.
USC commit Riley Malloy led the Maroons (38-5, 7-2 District 26-6A) with 12 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. She finished with a double double, adding 10 digs and four aces.
Outside hitter Harper Luthy added eight kills and eight digs, while Claire Nelson had seven and a team high five blocks.
“These girls played amazing,” said Austin High head coach Kylie Woods. “We’ve been working on a lot of different things, like getting tighter at the net, because we have girls that can bounce the ball basically on command. When we get the ball placed where we want it, it gives our hitters options.”
A young Lake Travis team
The Cavaliers (20-19, 4-4) have had an uncharacteristic season one might not expect from a volleyball team at Lake Travis. There’s no reason to sound the alarm just yet. This is nothing more than a rebuilding year.
One glance at the stat sheet tells a story of a team full of young talent ready to take Lake Travis volleyball back to the promise land. It’s just taking some time.
Junior Lynden Besecker, the younger sister of Camden and Arden Besecker, leads the team in total kills (249) and is third for hitting percentage (.222).
Junior Adyson Davis leads the team in blocks (46) and assists (387), is second in aces (32), and third in kills (205) and digs (154). Then there’s freshman Maggie Wheeler, who has seen significant playing time lately and leads the team with a .244 hitting percentage.
The Cavaliers are still in the playoff chase, but need to beat Bowie next Tuesday at the Cavalier Dome to get in the playoffs.
Playoff implications, or lack there of
Has the new playoff format the University Interscholastic League implemented for the 2024-25 school year taken the excitement out of the playoff chase? Well, kind of.
Consider that Austin High is currently in second place in District 26-6A and will likely finish there tied with Westlake. However, placing is meaningless in the new postseason format.
In the old format, the second-place team would face the third-place team from District 25-6A, and the third-place team from 26-6A would face the second-place team from 25-6A. If Austin High and Westlake remained tied, the two teams would have a tiebreaker to determine seeding. Should Austin High finish second, they would’ve played Vista Ridge and Westlake would have faced Round Rock in the first round under the old format.
Under the new format, the four teams that make the playoffs are split into two divisions. Since Austin High and Dripping Springs have clinched, both will be in the Division II bracket since they will have the lowest two enrollments regardless of whether its Bowie or Lake Travis in that fourth playoff spot. Dripping Springs will take the top spot and likely face Vista Ridge, while Austin High will likely play Vandegrift in the first round.
Therefore, Tuesday’s win over Lake Travis and Friday’s win over Westlake had no implications on Austin High’s playoff future.
“It’s weird,” Woods said. “Obviously, we want to beat those two teams, but there’s no chance of us seeing them in the playoffs since they will be Division I and we’ll be Division II. It doesn’t matter where we finish, so it’s a different mindset and strategy.”