THE WOODLANDS — Grand Oaks’ volleyball team is getting closer and closer to a third district championship in five years.
The Grizzlies induced more separation between themselves and the rest of District 13-6A on Tuesday with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-20, 25-22) of College Park, which entered second in district play.
Grand Oaks, ranked No. 4 in the nation by MaxPreps, won its ninth consecutive match and is 36-1 overall, 9-0 in 13-6A. College Park is 18-7 and 7-2. The Cavaliers, who saw their nine-game win streak snapped, are tied with The Woodlands for second place.
The Grizzlies won the district season series against the Cavaliers and own the tiebreaker should it come to that. Grand Oaks won the first meeting with a 3-0 sweep at home on Aug. 22.
The Grizzlies have a two-game lead on first place with seven district games remaining.
“It feels nice, but we have to focus on each game, one at a time,” Grand Oaks coach Morgan Rogers said. “I think sometimes we think ahead of us and the big picture, but we could do a better job focusing on each opponent, each match, and then going from there.”
Grand Oaks won the district championship in its inaugural year of varsity play in 2019. It shared the title with The Woodlands last year.
“It’s awesome,” said junior outside hitter Samara Coleman, who had 11 kills and was a force at the net with her blocking. “I think it shows how much we’ve grown. We just have this mindset that we want to win state. We want to win big.”
Grand Oaks has not dropped a set since Aug. 26, when it suffered its lone loss to Plano Prestonwood Christian in a best-of-three tournament match. In total, the Grizzlies have won 84 of 90 sets this year.
The win puts Grand Oaks two wins shy of the program-best established last year with 38.
The Grizzlies won the first two sets against College Park with relative ease before being pushed to extremes in the third set.
College Park jumped out to leads of 14-9 and 20-14, respectively. A rash of Grand Oaks errors aided its cause. Of the Cavaliers’ 22 points in the set, 13 came off Grizzlies miscues.
But the Grizzlies stormed back in dramatic fashion, finishing the match on an 11-2 run. They tightened up the mistakes and, with little margin for error, thrived.
Senior middle and Florida commit Jaela Auguste was dominant at the net with big blocks. Senior Caelyn Emmerling came through with a few big timely kills.
Coleman and sophomore sensation Halle Thompson also authored clutch moments late in the third set, with Thompson providing the winning point.
“They had a little bit of momentum, but we just wanted to finish it,” Coleman said. “It shows we have a lot of passion and grit. We want it. We want to win.”
Senior setter Audrey Terry expertly served the Grizzlies’ final nine points.
“Just get it over and in,” Terry said. “Obviously, I had a lot of pressure, but a big thing is mindset. Just get a good serve and go from there.”
Rogers said she was proud to see the way her team fought when it was pushed against the wall.
“We haven’t lost a set in quite a while, so I think they were shocked a bit,” Rogers said. “It was nice to see the response. They stayed calm and error-free there at the end, and it was really awesome to see their focus.”
Thompson also had 11 kills for Grand Oaks. Auguste had eight kills and eight blocks. Emmerling had four kills and four blocks.
Terry had 20 assists.
Freshman Sadie Kendrick led College Park with 10 kills.
