Volleyball takes silver

While teaching at Wimberley High School for several years, Stephanie Barthels often worked as an assistant coach for the school’s volleyball teams. This year, she moved up to head coach of the WHS Texan volleyball teams.

Last Friday and Saturday, the Texan varsity team competed in the San Marcos volleyball tournament which gave them great possibilities to learn just how good they could be. After two days of grueling games, some against 5A and 6A teams, the Texans came home with hard-won second place silver trophy.

“On Saturday, we won twice which put us into the championship game against Lockhart HS but in the finals game, they were just too consistent,” coach Barthels explained. “Still, we felt really excited about winning silver in a tough tournament.”

Coach Barthels listed four of her more experienced players as inspiration for the team and leaders in the San Marcos tournament success. “Maddy Maxwell, our libero, is agile and experienced as a senior. She covers a lot of space from her free-roam position. Then, there’s Rayna Pack, a junior, who is left-handed and absolutely explosive on that side of the court. She’s scares opponents with her size. She’s our momentum changer.”

“Reilly Horn, one of our senior captains, is our power leader on the court. She knows the game well so I can call on her in critical situations to pull the team together. Also, I can’t forget Olivia Linton who is our most consistent player and a great server. She’s the girl I go to in tough situations.”

Now finished with the season-opening tournaments, the Wimberley team started the dual meet part of the season by hosting Divine last Tuesday night. They will playing Cedar Creek this Friday with freshmen, junior varsity and varsity teams competing.