The Weatherford Lady Eagles volleyball team won their home volleyball tournament Saturday and didn’t lose a match or set during the tournament.
Weatherford beat Altus, CBA JV and Tipton 2-0 in pool play. In bracket play, they defeated Clinton 2-0 in the semifinals and CBA 2-0 in the championship game.
“I am very proud of the girls,” coach Sandi Barr said. “It was a long day and they worked hard every game. I think our team stayed confident and worked well together as a team. Not everyone played an amazing game every set but when they all work hard and do not get frustrated with each other or themselves in those moments, we will be successful.”
CBA defeated Clinton and Weatherford JV 2-0 and they defeated Snyder 2-1 in pool play. In bracket play, they defeated Tipton 2-0, but fell to Weatherford 2-0 in the championship game.
After seeing the other teams at the tournament, I felt we deserved to be in the championship with Weatherford,” coach Erin Basinger said. “We like the long tournaments because we are able to get so much experience in just a short amount of time. After playing together all day, we can always see improvement from the first game to the last.”
Pool play Weatherford 2, Altus 0
Weatherford had a slow start. Even with the slow start, the Lady Eagles won the first set 25-16. They won the second set 25-13.
“We were slow to get started during the Altus game,” Barr said. “What I love about my girls is they do not give up and once they find their groove, they push through to win.”
Weatherford was without Jordan Hoffman for the first game because she was running in the Sand Plum Invitational, a cross country meet hosted by Weatherford High School at Rader Park. Barr said Aviree Roberson stepped up and played in her spot.
“Aviree played all the way around on both offense and defense and she covers well and has the same mentality of Jordan in which they go get balls up,” Barr said. “They both move and cover well.”
Weatherford 2, CBA JV 0
Weatherford won the second match of the day against Corn Bible Academy JV, winning the first set 25-7 the second set 25-9. Barr said CBA’s JV plays a lot like their varsity does.
“CBA always is a scrappy team who gets balls up and plays smart,” Barr said. “Their JV is very similar to their Varsity so we worked on staying on our toes and being ready for anything.
Weatherford 2, Tipton 0
Weatherford won the third match of pool play, beating conference foe Tipton 2-0.
Weatherford jumped on Tipton early and was ahead 22-9 with errors by Tipton and good play by the Lady Eagles. Weatherford won the first set 25-10.
The Lady Eagles built a lead in the second set with plays like the libero Dacia Miranda having a kill at the backcourt. Weatherford won the second set 25-8.
With this win, Weatherford advanced to the gold bracket. Barr said she made some adjustments when they played in bracket play once pool play ended.
“Some pool games I did make slight adjustments to our lineup but for the most part we kept the same game plan the entire tournament,” Barr said. “I had been trying to find our strongest line up and now that I have chosen it, I want the girls to get as much play time as possible together.”
Bracket play Weatherford 2, Clinton 0
Weatherford jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead. Weatherford kept scoring with plays like Miranda diving for a ball hitting it above the net to keep the play going. Clinton called a timeout when Weatherford was ahead 8-0. Weatherford was in control the rest of the set and won 25-6.
Weatherford struggled early on in the second set, but picked up the pace and built an 11-5 lead. Weatherford went on a 9-2 run and was ahead 20-7 and Clinton called a timeout. Clinton made a run at Weatherford and coach Barr called a timeout as Weatherford was ahead 24-14 and advanced to the championship game and their opponent was CBA.
“A strong win like this always helps confidence,” Barr said. “However having so many games in one day gives the girls more time to work on chemistry as well as bonding during the breaks and all. Building team cohesion helps so much on any team.”
Weatherford 2, CBA 0
Both teams made a few mistakes during the first set with missed balls and some shots going out of bounds. Weatherford built a 12-9 lead with a kill from Robertson. Sydney Barr has a kill giving Weatherford a 21-17 advantage. Corn Bible went on a 3-0 run making it 23-20 and Weatherford won 25-20.
In the second set, Weatherford the set was tied, 8-8, early on.. Weatherford went on a 4-0 run, making the score 12-8. Corn Bible did not go away, but Weatherford went on a 3-0 run giving them a 19-13 advantage. After that run, Weatherford closed the set on a 6-3 run and won the championship with the 25-16 win in the second set.
Barr said she is happy they won the tournament and is glad to see how they won, even though the girls were tired from playing all day.
“My girls had been working hard all day and I knew they had to be tired,” Barr said. “I have really been encouraging them to be mentally tough and what a great opportunity to put it into action. They were tired but they were able to put that behind them and battle. Since the players were tired, we started playing smart rather than just trying to get kills every swing.”
Barr said these wins can boost Weatherford’s confidence during the rest of the season and there are always things to improve on.
“A strong win like this always helps building confidence,” Barr said. “However, having so many games in one day gives the girls more time to work on chemistry as well as bonding during the breaks and all. Building team cohesion helps so much on any team. I think the biggest thing we can improve on right now would be blocking and reading hits.”