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Seven Lakes wins 6A Volleyball Title over previously undefeated Klein
Katy Seven Lakes defeated the Klein Bearkats 3-1 in four sets in Garland on Saturday to become the UIL Conference 6A Volleyball State Champions. The Spartans ended their season with a 25-1 record and a state title.
Klein came into the match undefeated. The Bearkats, until Saturday, were 26-0. Klein was able to win set one by a score of 26-24 over Seven Lakes. The second set began with Klein showing their strength and taking a quick lead. Seven Lakes was able to turn it around and rallied from behind with a score of 18-12. It wasn't long before the Spartans tied the set at 19-19 against the Bearkats. Once Seven Lakes took the lead, though, they ran with it winning the second set by a score of 25-22.
Set three saw the same physicality and back and forth scoring as the first two sets. Seven Lakes got out to an early lead and came out with a win over Klein by a score of 25-20. Finally, set 4 came and again the teams were back and forth in their scoring. Seven Lakes was able to pull off a 25-22 win to win the championship match.
Senior Ally Batenhorst was awarded the match MVP as she recorded a match-high 30 kills. Batenhorst also recorded a team-high 15 digs alongside a match-high of 32 points. "We started off the first set with a little bit of nerves," Batenhorst said in the press conference. "We were excited to be there and had so much adrenaline… we got in our own heads a little bit. By the middle of the second set, we got out of that mental funk and we were able to put it over the edge."
The Spartans had to shut down their season twice in 2020 due to COVID-19 outbreaks. "We talked a lot about [COVID] because the majority of our team had it," Batenhorst said. "We overcame it. Like I said, we are resilient and we bounce back. We kept our spirits up and believed we could still do it." Batenhorst said that right now, she's just excited to get on the bus and go get Chick-Fil-A.
Batenhorst's younger sister, Casey, also plays for the team. A now junior watched both of her older sisters play at the Curtis Culwell Center on a few occasions. She said this helped spark and further her passion for volleyball. "We knew we wanted [a championship] so bad," said Casey Batenhorst. "It's all we've talked about for an entire year."
Spartan volleyball head coach, Amy Cataline had only great things to say about her team in the press conference. "I could not be more proud of this team," Cataline said. "[The atmosphere was] electric. The fans were great." As far as the surreal moment of winning the state title as the first Katy ISD team to take away a championship? "It's an honor," Cataline says. "We talked about it. We wanted it. The reality hasn't sunk in yet."
Coach Cataline spoke on Ally Batenhorst's leadership in the press conference as well: "She loves her teammates and she shows it. She gave her whole heart this season and her team followed. She's a team player to the core and you just don't find that with an elite player these days, so it's been an honor to be by her side."
Locked In: No. 1 Klein boasts undefeated record, Zora wins No. 500 of career
HOUSTON - Looking towards the 2020 season, Kate Zora envisioned her 500th career victory would come in August.
Due to COVID-19 pushing back the beginning of the season for Class 6A programs and the University Interscholastic League eliminating tournament play, that milestone would have to wait.
On Tuesday, with a 3-0 victory over Tomball - pushing Klein's overall record to 15-0 and 6-0 in district play - Zora reached No. 500.
"You don't get anywhere without great athletes that want to work hard every single day and that has attributed to the success that we've had," Zora, who has coached at FB Bush, Round Rock Westwood, A&M Consolidated and Klein in her career, said. "It's like a business, your best asset isn't what your product is but the people. We try to invest a lot of time and effort on building relationships. I think that's been a big attribute to the success."
Congratulations to @coachzoravb on her 500th win & to @KleinVolleyball on another win!!! Let's keep it going! pic.twitter.com/MyDSjXIJyr
— Bearkat Football (@BearkatFB) October 21, 2020
Entering this week, Klein remained No. 1 in Texas in Class 6A with a perfect record and have dropped only one set all season. Klein is followed by Pearland Dawson at No.2 and Seven Lakes at No. 5.
The Bearkats are also nationally ranked in the AVCA/USA Today poll at No. 3 in Region 4.
"This group, they're special," Zora said. "They are really focused and are really driven on what the goals are. They come in each day prepared ... They know what they want to be able to do and that's the biggest thing."
Great 3-0 win today over a super tough Woodlands team! Outstanding team effort with strong defense and dominate offense- way to go ladies!! So proud of you!! 💙💛
Also special shoutout to our JV for their outstanding 3-set win 🎉🎉@KleinHigh @BrandonBaker31 @coach_hallmark pic.twitter.com/hQANOXRVUZ
— Klein HS Volleyball (@KleinVolleyball) October 11, 2020
Klein reached the Region II-6A Finals a year ago, falling to eventual state champion Plano West.
Since that loss, Zora said the motto for the group has been "Locked In", ironically foreshadowing what the players would have to go through the next few months during the COVID-19 quarantine.
"It was just really a mindset and mentality," Zora said. "We were going to be locked in and focused on their goal. They have done that and a lot of that is leadership but at the same time when you have leaders you have to have everyone to follow. As a team we try to stay as balanced as possible."
Klein this season has been led by seniors Clemson-commit Devan Taylor (141 kills, 245 digs and Annie Antar (116 kills, 144 digs and 272 assists) but the leader in kills through 15 matches has been sophomore Ariana Brown with 157 and 29 aces.
"The amount of improvement she has been made has been amazing," Zora said about last year's District Newcomer of the Year. "She's playing with a lot of confidence and I attribute that to the amount of hard work and time she has put into her game. You don't get better because you want to, you get better because you really worked hard for it."
Defensively, Rice-commit Gaby Mansfield has led the team in digs with 253 and Camy Kling, who recently committed to University of North Alabama, has led the team in assists with 287.
For a team that's goal has been reaching the UIL State Tournament in 2020, they have had literally everything thrown at them that could be foreseen as an obstacle - global pandemic, losing a traditional offseason, no club volleyball circuit, a late start to the season.
But this group has taken it in stride and doesn't look to be slowing down.
"I attribute that to their flexibility," Zora said. "It goes back to that idea of 'Locked In'. They are just like 'we know what our goal is, we will be flexible when we need to be flexible, we understand things are going to be last minute'. We are just trying to take it one day at a time and handle everything that we have. We just try to communicate as much as possible.
"They've just kept a really level mentality where they're not really letting anything get to them, which I think is very mature of them. I think that's what makes them special. Their ability to handle pressure and handle changes."
Klein will be back on the court on Friday at home against Klein Cain and have seven regular season matches left on the slate prior to the 2020 playoffs beginning, where they will try and advance to state.
"This group of seniors has been to the Regional Tournament every single year," Zora said. "They've established a good legacy of high expectations."