In the second game of the annual Battle of the Backbone, Wimberley High School ended the regular season with a sweep of the Canyon Lake Hawks as the Lady Texans rolled 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-12).
Set one found Wimberley going down early 5-1, but back to back kills by Laney Hennessee brought life to Wimberley as they made themselves known in a set that went back and forth and found both teams all squared up at 20 a piece.
“I like to break sets down into points of five, so you can wrap your mind around it,” Coach Stephanie Barthels said. “In short little games like that you can always fix things. You don’t want to play all 25 points at once, so we always want to get things done in five.”
Set two was another close one as the Lady Texans found themselves up 20-19 late in the set after a few lead changes early on in the match. With another five points needed, Cameron Thames had two huge back to back kills to give Wimberley a cushion. This also allowed Wimberley libero Rhagen Masur to get back to back aces to finish off set two.
Set three was the opposite of the first two as Wimberley came out hot, going up 5-1 early on and forcing Canyon Lake to call a timeout. After the quick break, Wimberley wasted no time getting right back to where they left off as they only gave up 12 points in a stress free set, winning 25-12 and completing the 3-0 sweep.
Laney Hennessee had 16 kills and an ace in three sets with the help of setter Jesse Weeks’s 19 assist game. Addison Parks helped on the defensive side, ending the game with six blocks and six kills.
On Friday, Oct. 27, the Lady Texans had a scrimmage to warm up for playoffs against Johnson high school in which they won 3-1 (25-15, 25-13, 22-25, 25-18).
During the game, Hennessee surpassed the 1,000 career kills mark at the varsity level.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Hennessee said. “I’m excited about it, thanks to my team and my setters for helping me get here.”
Hennessee racked up 20 kills in the scrimmage against Johnson with kill number 12 being the one to put her at 1,000 during the third set in the match.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Barthels said. “She’s an awesome kid and she works really hard outside of school to do it. Making her a captain this year was a big deal but she worked really hard for it. She deserves it and I can’t wait for her to get 2,000.”
The Lady Texans next matchup will be against the Gonzales Apaches in what will be the first round of playoffs on Monday night in Wimberley. The Apaches find themselves at 16-21 as the Lady Texans are 32-7 going into Monday’s night’s first round matchup.
