Texas high school volleyball: Class 5A-6A championship game previews

Trophy Club Byron Nelson looks to repeat in 6A; Cedar Park aims to avenge defeat in last year's 5A finals

Trophy Club Byron Nelson's Savannah Sterna prepares to return shot during a game against Cypress Ranch in the Class 6A Division I semifinals on Sept. 15. / Gregory LaGrange

The UIL state volleyball season ends today in Garland.

Four more state championships will be awaded at The Curtis Culwell Center. History could be made on Saturday as Trophy Club Byron Nelson looks to finish the season undefeated. 

On Day 1, Blum, Jewett Leon and Iola took home state championships. The second day of finals saw Decatur repeat as state champions. Goliad got revenge with a win against Bushland in a rematch. Clifton and Fort Worth Eagle Mountain won titles on the first try. 

Here’s a look at Day 3.

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Class 5A Division I 

College Station A&M Consolidated Tigers (37-9) vs. Dallas Highland Park Scots (42-8), 11 a.m. 

Setting the stage: Consol is playing in its first title game in what is only the third trip to the final four, the previous in 1985 and 2014. … Highland Park is in the finals for the third time, but lost in 2003 and 2008, so there will be a first-time champion after this game. 

Notable: Highland Park has won 20 in a row and has posted six straight sweeps to reach the finals. … No stats were available online for the Scots. … A&M Consol has posted wins in eight straight going into this game. … Freshman Harper Korenek has 477 kills and is hitting at a team-high 27%. Senior Jillian Vinal is next with 305 kills. … Four Tigers have 300 or more digs, led by Korenek’s 356. Vinal has 347, followed by Mia Cross (336) and Presley Johnson (312). … Sophomore Kendall Newton had 791 assists, while Vinal had 568.

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Class 5A Division II

Cedar Park Timberwolves (38-12) vs. Argyle Eagles (38-3), 1 p.m. 

Setting the stage: Cedar Park is in the finals for the second year in a row, but is 0-2 in previous trips. … The Timberwolves have won 19 in a row heading into this game. … Cedar Park is 2-1 vs. Argyle, but they haven’t played since 2014. … Argyle has won 17 in a row, the last setback coming on Sept. 5. A win over Frisco Liberty in the semifinals avenged one of those three regular-season losses. ... Argyle won its only title in 2015.

Notable: Seniors Joy Udoye and Mya Cheatum were all-tournament picks last year for Cedar Park at this event. … Udoye, a Stanford signee, has 568 kills this year. … Cheatum had 411 kills and 155 digs. …. Katelyn Hughes had a team-high 59 aces and 806 assists for the Timberwolves. Junior Anna Kurz had 702 digs, a team-high for Cedar Park, while adding 199 assists. …. Argyle’s Alexis Elsey paces the attack with 312 kills this year, but Hannah Baker (231), Susanna Hodson (226) and Betsy Zhang (215) all have more than 200. … Makenna Gregory has 545 assists for the Eagles.

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Class 6A Division I 

Pearland Dawson Eagles (42-4) vs. Trophy Club Byron Nelson Bobcats (41-0), 4 p.m. 

Setting the stage: Trophy Club Byron Nelson is on a 77-match winning streak and is looking to finish undefeated in a higher division. … Very little history between the two teams, with a 1-1 mark head-to-head. Dawson won in 2012 and Nelson won in 2015. … This is the first time Dawson had qualified for the semifinals or the finals. … Byron Nelson is 2-0 in title games, winning last year and the 6A crown in 2019. 

Notable: Kylie Kleckner was the MVP of last year’s Class 6A Division II finals for Byron Nelson. She is one of three returning all-tournament players for the Bobcats, along with junior Sophee Peterson and senior Ashley Seay.  … A win by the Bobcats would make them the second DFW team to finish undefeated champs, joining Lucas Lovejoy in 2020, the pandemic-shortened season. …. Six seniors for Byron Nelson have signed to play at the next level, which will have Seay heading to Rice and Kleckner to Washington. Peterson is a Texas A&M commit. …. Dawson has D-I players littered on rosters too. Taylor Ranney is a beach volleyball signee for Grand Canyon University, Keaton Points at the University of San Francisco, Avery Koonsen at Stephen F. Austin, Jenna Thedford at Texas A&M, and Sloane Ramsey at Grand Canyon. … Dawson has won 22 in a row, which included a 3-2 win over O’Connor last Saturday to avenge a regular-season loss. … Koonsen had 529 kills and 328 digs. … Thedford leads the team with 698 digs. … Ranney is the primary assistant woman with 750, but Koonsen is second with 460. … Seay had 523 kills and Kleckner has 519 for the Bobcats. … Peterson is a rare mix as she has distributed 1,459 assists, but also leads the team with 70 blocks. … Savannah Sterna (409), Kleckner (388) and Seay (351) all have more than 300 digs. … According to MaxPreps stats, Peterson was 6th in the country in assists this year.

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Class 6A Division II

Austin Stephen F. Austin Maroons (41-6) vs. Southlake Carroll Dragons (34-5), 6 p.m. 

Setting the stage: Austin is in the finals for the 2nd time in school history. The last trip was in 1992, when the Maroons won the 5A title. … For Carroll, this is the third trip to at least the semifinals and only the 2nd trip to the finals. However, the Dragons lost in the 1998 4A finals. … Southlake has won 13 in a row, while Austin’s win streak is 5 straight.

Notable: Carroll has 8 players headed to college next year, including 4 at the Division I level: Layla Austin at San Diego State, Teddy-Ray Ewers at Incarnate Word (yes, that’s Quinn’s sister), Kinsley Young at TCU and Abby Huddleston at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. … Austin (468 kills) and Young (324) pace the Dragons’ attack. … Emma Eyster (667) and freshman Mariel Elizondo (495) account for more than 1,000 of the team’s 1,300 assists. … Austin (468) and Lauren St. Charles (409) each had more than 400 digs, while another freshman, Collins Alonzo, has 308. … Young has 106 blocks. … Maggie McCarroll has 702 assists and 83 aces for the Maroons, tops in both categories. She also has 340 digs… USC pledge Riley Malloy has 544 kills and 310 digs. … Laven Blumoff paces Austin in receptions (579) and digs (420). … Junior Camille Presley is a Texas Longhorn pledge. She has 244 kills, 74 aces, 102 blocks,  …. Stephen F. Austin is the longest continuously operated school in the Lone Star State, established in 1881.