Lady Texans season ends at regionals

Advancing to their first Regional Tournament Final for the first time since 2021, Wimberley High School’s Lady Texan volleyball team saw their season come to an end, falling to the No. #1 ranked Davenport High School Lady Wolves 0-3.

In the Regional Quarterfinals, Wimberley had a chance to get revenge on the Belville High School Brahmanettes, the team that took them out of playoffs last year. They did just that, continuing their flawless playoff run with a 3-0 sweep (25-22) (25-20) (2523), advancing them to the fourth round.

“Redemption is always nice,” Head Coach Stephanie Barthels said. “Coming in, we really weren’t nervous; we were the better team, so we were prepared.”

Set one was a close match, seeing both teams tied at 12 points apiece halfway through the match. Wimberley got some distance after going up 23-18 and finding some separation. The Brahmanettes weren’t going to go down without a fight as they clawed back making it 23-22 and forced the Lady Texans to call a crucial timeout.

“I called a timeout and said, “ We got this and my nerves were set aside.” Barthels said. That’s all the Lady Texans needed to hear to regroup, scoring the next two points to win the set 25-22.

Set two saw Wimberley jump out to an early lead. They never looked back; both their offense and defense was on display. Every fitter got a kill in the set,and on the defensive side, they did a good job protecting the net with a few blocks winning the set 25-20.

Set three was a back and forth set as it saw 10 lead changes — with the Brahmanettes not wanting to go down without a fight and the Lady Texans wanting to close the game out quickly. After a big kill late in the set giving Belville the lead, Wimberley called a timeout, trailing 23-22. Right out of the timeout, Addison Parks had a huge block to tie the game at 23 points apiece. This changed the momentum of the set as Wimberley got the last two points and won the match in a 3-0 sweep.

Laney Hennessee led the way on the offensive side with 17 kills; Skylar Herring assisted on most of those kills with 20 assists. Addison Parks had an impressive five blocks to lead the defensive side with Rhagen Masur coming up with 16 digs.

The Regional Semifinals saw the Lady Texans (357) go up against the Floresville High School Lady Tigers (40-2). In a highly competitive match, Wimberley was able to keep their run alive, winning three sets to one (25-19) (25-23) (20-25) (2520) on Friday, Nov. 10 at the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio.

“Defensively, we were awesome,” Barthels said. “Offensively, we struggled a bit. We were calm, cool and collected the first two games and lost focus in game three but then came back and sealed it in game four.”

Set one saw Wimberley in control as they came out strong winning the first set by the largest margin in the game 2519.

Set two was a back and forth set with the score being tied up at 19 late in the match. Addison Parks and Lilli Sandoval had two huge back to back kills that sparked the Lady Texans to go on a 6-4 run, taking the set 25-23.

Set three gave Wimberley a chance to continue their perfect playoff run as they had not lost a set yet. However, the Lady Tigers were not ready to give up on their season as they took the lead early on and didn’t give it back, eventually taking it 25-20.

In the fourth set, the Lady Tigers battled hard with their season on the line. With it all tied up at 11 in a match that had already gone back and forth, Cameron Thames got the kill that unbroke the tie for the last time. Wimberley won the set 25-20 and took the match 3-1.

Unfortunately, late in the match, Kenslee Brown, starter for the Lady Texans, went down with an ankle injury in what would end her senior season early.

“It’s huge,” Barthels said. “Kinslee means a lot to us being the starting right side blocker; she takes on the big outside hitter for us, so it’s going to be tough. Losing Kinlsee is going to hurt us, but we want to win this next game for her.”

Laney Hennessee continued her dominance as she finished the game with 24 kills as Jesse Weeks finished with 22 assists. On the defensive side, Addison Parks and Kinslee Brown defended the net well, Parks having seven blocks and Brown having four. Rhagen Masur ended the game with 28 digs.

Round five was arguably the state championship game two rounds early, hosting the Lady Texans (36-7) against the Davenport High School Lady Wolves (44-5). Davenport ended up taking the match three sets to none (26-24) (25-19) (2624) in what was a highly competitive match.

“I thought we went on spurts of really great volleyball and then there were spurts where we weren’t playing our very best.” Barthels said.

In the first set, Davenport took a commanding 17-10 lead, forcing Wimberley to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Lady Texans slowly crawled their way back into the game tying it up at 23-23. Wimberley dropped the next point and took a timeout. With the set on the line, #13 Cameron Thames had a huge kill to tie it up at 24. Unfortunately, Davenport was unfazed as they came back with two kills of their own to take the set 26-24.

In the second set, Wimberley made a number of hitting errors. The Lady Texans only lead of the set was at 4-3; Davenport had five back to back kills and took the set 25-19.

Set three is where Wimberley really came out strong and showed they weren’t ready for their season to be over, going up 8-4 early and forcing Davenport to call a timeout. Wimberley continued to hold the lead all set going up 1711, 21,14 and finally 24,19. Unfortunately for Wimberley, Davenport made a huge run at the end and took the third set 2624.

“In game three, we had a very big lead and we just gave it away at the end. I thought we were gonna have a reverse sweep, so I was really looking forward to doing that.” Barthels said.

Coach Barthels said she always preaches about going to state to her girls because she knows what her girls are capable of: “The legacy we have here in Wimberley is to always go to state when the season starts, and I always put it in the girls heads that we are going to state. When we say it, it really has meaning behind it. We were four points away from it becoming true. It was a wild ride and was so much fun.”

Laney Hennessee had another big game with 18 kills. On the defensive side, Cameron Thames and Mariah McCoy both had five blocks, and Rhagen Masur led the way with 12 digs. Senior setter Jesse Weeks finished the game with 17 assists.

The Lady Texans finished the season 36-8, advancing them all the way to the fifth round and making them an Elite Eight team.

“Jesse has been in our program for four years; she was our captain this year and is just the epitome of Wimberley volleyball,” Barthels reflected on the end of the season. “Kenslee Brown was a transfer and came to us and really bought into our program really well. Hadlee Whitten, bless her heart, she has played every position in the front row for us; she has a heart of gold. Holland Wyatt is the epitome of anybody that wants a teammate is her; she gave a player her shoes without batting an eye. And then Kate Westmoreland, who wants to go play in college and will go play anywhere, I believe, is just a workhorse in the gym. Those five girls are just amazing, and I have really enjoyed having them in our program these past four years. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of seniors.”