Westwood volleyball Janae Evans couldn’t have asked for a better start to her teams 2012 season.
After sweeping a duel against Nacogdoches and Diboll Tuesday, the Lady Panthers opened up their home tournament with a perfect run through pool play.
Westwood swept Oakwood (25-6, 25-6), Jacksonville (25-17, 25-11) and finally Wortham (25-7, 25-18) to close out the day.
“They’re doing exactly what I’m asking them to do,” Evans said of her team. “I’m asking them to play to their potential every game, and I feel like they’re stepping on the floor and doing that.”
By winning Pool A, Westwood put itself in prime position to make a run during bracket play Saturday. The Lady Panthers will open Saturday at 10 a.m. against Frankston, who finished fourth in Pool B.
Athens, which won Pool B, will take on Oakwood at 9 a.m. Saturday, while Jacksonville (second in Pool A) takes on Crockett (third in Pool B) to open up play at 8 a.m.
The final quarterfinal match will pit the Westwood JV, (which finished second in Pool B) against Wortham.
Westwood’s finale against Wortham was relatively non-eventful.
Wortham scored the first two points of Game 1, but Westwood took over from there. The Lady Panthers scored 25 of the final 32 puts in the game to cruise to the 25-7 victory.
Game 2 was a little tighter, even though Westwood tried to pull away early.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 15-8 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs clawed back into the game and cut the Westwood lead to 17-14 at one point.
From there, however, Westwood went on a run.
Behind the serve of Heather Wooden, the Lady Panthers scored the next four points to take a 21-14 lead. Wooden had two aces in that span.
After one of her serves went into the net, Westwood again went on the offensive, as Natali Muniz contributed two aces of her own to put Westwood up 24-15 and on the edge of victory.
Wortham put together three points for itself before an errant kill went into the net, clinching the game (25-18) and match for the Lady Panthers.
“I keep telling them to play at their potential and stay on their level,” Evans said. “They did that today, and I was very proud of them.”
Muniz led Westwood with six kills against Wortham, while Mi’Kayla Benson and Marialle Boles each had three.
Wooden had a team-high nine assists and four aces.
In Westwood’s opening match route of Oakwood, Benson led the team with eight kills, while Boles had four and both Ciara Parker and Trista Fields had three.
Wooden had 10 assists and three aces in that match, while Lacy Wooden had a team-high four aces.
Evans called it “a nice feeling to have,” to have so many players that can attack offensively.
“You don’t worry about it when a set goes up,” she said.
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