Volleyball goes to regional semifinal against Klein

Ana Arredondo, Reporter

Sydney Washburn
Senior Kayla Martin, No. 3, serves ball to the McKinney Boyd Lady Broncos. Martin and her teammates play Klein at 7 tonight in Huntsville. “If we want to continue our success in playoffs, we have to be mentally focused,” coach Erin Kauffman said. “One thing I’ve learned this year is we have so much talent, but it doesn’t matter how much talent you have if you’re not mentally prepared.”

The Eagles (35-9) will play Klein (39-8) 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, on the road for the regional semifinal title.

“We are looking to play solid, low error volleyball,” assistant coach, Leslie Jackson said.“At this point in playoffs, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is going to win.”

The girls traveled to McKinney High Tuesday, Nov. 5, to play Plano High for the regional quarterfinals title. The game ended 3-1 with an Eagles’ win. 

“It was a very exciting game,” assistant coach, Angel Mauterer said. “We did make a number of our own mistakes, but we were able to come together at the end, and pick each other up to make a difference.”

Klein holds a record of 8-1 district games, and they hold the 24th rank in Texas. 

“We’d like to eliminate our errors,” Mauterer said. “And, really force the other team to win each point instead of us giving them away.”

The varsity girls are looking for another state championship, after winning last year’s in division 5A. 

“We want to win a state championship, but we’re focusing on doing the best we can and make sure that no matter what we leave everything on the court,” Mauterer said. “We don’t want to turn back later and say ‘Well we could have done more, or I could have given more effort.’ Every single practice and every single game from here on out is full effort.”

Finishing undefeated this season in district, the girls are currently ranked 13th in the nation, and they hold the 2nd spot in Texas.

“The sky’s the limit for this team,” Jackson said. “We have an incredible group of hard-working, determined athletes. If they continue to play solid volleyball, we are excited to see what they can accomplish together.”