By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
District play will begin for most Austin area teams next week, while District 26-5A and 25-6A are entering the third week of action. Here is this week’s report:
Around the Austin-San Antonio region
Austin High handled Weiss on Wednesday, sweeping the Wolves 3-0. … Liberty Hill defeated Georgetown in a five-set thriller Tuesday at Liberty Hill. Sophomore Hannah Griffin slammed home an astonishing 34 kills to lead the Lady Panthers. Junior Mallory Miller led Georgetown with 23 kills. … Junior Avery Ralston led Rouse to a 3-1 win over Stony Point Tuesday with a tam high 20 kills. Taliah Angwekwe led the Tigers with 21 kills. … Round Rock swept Vandegrift 3-0 behind 16 kills from Parker Featherstone and 13 from Kerington Thornton. … Sydney Yohe led Westlake to a 3-0 victory over San Antonio Brandies with 15 kills and 12 digs … Kingsley Minus slammed home 16 kills and 17 assists while Shaylie Schaefer added 13 in New Braunfels’ 3-1 win over Davenport. … Sophomore Sydney Durrett had 11 kills to lead St. Stephen’s Episcopal past Grace Academy in four sets. … Joy Udoye had 31 kills for Cedar Park, but the Timberwolves couldn’t overcome a high-powered offense from Lake Travis as the Cavaliers won the match in four sets. … Vista Ridge remained perfect in District 25-6A with a sweep of Westwood behind 15 kills from Jennavee Jensen. The Warriors were led by Grace McCluskey, who had eight kills and a block.
College report
Rouse alumni Savanah Skopal recorded her 1,000th career assist with Rice on Wednesday in the Owls 3-1 loss to No. 2 Texas. Skopal was an all-state setter for the Raiders and is now the starting setter for Rice.
Five Texas college programs are in the ACVA Top 24 this week. The Longhorns jumped three spots to No. 1, Texas A&M cracked the top 10 at No. 10, SMU is at No. 11, Baylor is No. 20 and TCU is NO. 24. The Horned Frogs upset defending national champion Penn State earlier this week.
Texas (3-0) went undefeated at the Open Spike Classic in Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend, sweeping No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 12 Creighton In Wednesday’s win over Rice, Torrey Stafford slammed 24 kills, had 13 digs and two aces to lead the Longhorns. Texas hosts Stanford Sunday at the Moody Center. First serve is set for noon.
Texas State (1-1) split a pair of games at the UTSA Invitaational. The Bobcats lost to Stephen F. Austin 3-1 in the first game and defeated rival UTSA in the second game 3-1. In the win over the Roadrunners, Vandegrift alumni Samantha Wunsch slammed 23 kills and had 10 digs and two aces. She was named to the all-tournament team.
The Bobcats play in the Southwest Showdown this weekend at UT-Rio Grande Valley where they will play three games against UTRGV, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTEP.
AVCA Phenom Watch list
The AVCA released its phenom watch list for 2025, which included over 100 volleyball players from the Austin-San Antonio region. To be eligible for the list, players had to be juniors, sophomores or freshman, been recognized with postseason awards, and their head coach, club coach or club director be an active AVCA member.
Star Player of the week
Hannah Griffin, Liberty Hill
The Panthers’ outside hitter racked up 80 kills at the Volleypalooza Tournament in Leander, helping Liberty Hill to a 4-3 record for the weekend. She also had 10 aces and 59 digs and was an all-tournament selection. On Tuesday she slammed 34 kills to help the Panthers defeat Georgetown in five sets.
This week’s Power 5s
Class 6A
| RK | SCHOOL | RECORD | LW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Austin High | 24-3 | 1 |
| 2. | Lake Travis | 24-7 | 2 |
| 3. | Round Rock | 23-8 | 4 |
| 4. | Buda Johnson | 24-6 | 5 |
| 5. | Comal Canyon | 18-12 | 3 |
Dropped out: None
Others: Westlake (19-10), Bowie (19-11), Dripping Springs (17-13), Vista Ridge (16-15)
Class 5A
| RK | SCHOOL | RECORD | LW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | New Braunfels | 27-5 | 2 |
| 2. | Weiss | 24-6 | 1 |
| 3. | Liberty Hill | 22-8 | 3 |
| 4. | Cedar Park | 19-11 | 4 |
| 5 | Comal Pieper | 19-9 | 5 |
Dropped out: None
Others: Smithson Valley (18-9), McCallum (15-8), Bastrop (18-9), Rouse (17-14)
Class 4A
| RK | SCHOOL | RECORD | LW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Comal Davenport | 23-4 | 1 |
| 2. | Wimberley | 26-5 | 3 |
| 3. | Salado | 17-12 | 2 |
| 4. | Gateway Prep | 14-4 | 5 |
| 5. | Burnet | 14-5 | 4 |
Dropped out: None
Others: La Grange (16-11), Canyon Lake (13-10)
Sub-4A
| RK | SCHOOL | RECORD | LW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | St. Andrews | 16-6 | 2 |
| 2. | Lexington | 15-9 | 3 |
| 3. | Johnson City | 19-8 | NR |
| 4. | Fayettville | 17-8 | 4 |
| 5. | Round Rock Christian | 14-9 | 5 |
Dropped out: Thrall (13-12)
Others: St. Michael’s (13-5-1), Texas School for the Deaf (12-7-1)
