The Dripping Springs Tiger volleyball team remains unbeaten in district play Friday with a 25-8, 25-10, 25-6 victory over the Reagan Raiders at Tiger Gym.
“I was proud of the way the girls performed,” said Tigers head coach Michael Kane. “We got everybody in and we got a lot of kids that had opportunities to touch the floor. There wasn’t a drop off in play and performance.”
“Honestly the team has gotten so much better. As a team, this is probably the closest we’ve ever been.”
–Dani Lebovitz, Dripping Springs senior middle blocker
Along with keeping their unblemished district record intact, the Tigers continued their streak of 21 consecutive sets won during district play. Dripping Springs has not dropped a set so far in district play. The dominant win was highlighted by a total of 28 kills and 22 aces from Tiger players.
“We had some goals coming into the district as far as winning the district championship, obviously number one, but also having internal personal goals for ourselves,” Kane said. “I feel like we are meeting up to that.”
The Tigers had four players total four or more kills in the match.
Dripping Springs senior middle blocker Dani Lebovitz led the team with six kills, including three in the final set. Senior outside hitter Madi Certain had five kills, while seniors Necie Watson and Alexis Haydt each finished with four kills.
“Honestly the team has gotten so much better,” Lebovitz said. “As a team, this is probably the closest we’ve ever been.”
Dripping Springs easily claimed the first set, but the team got off to a sluggish 5-4 start in the second set.
It was enough of a wake up call for Dripping Springs as they went on a 20-6 run to end the second frame.
Senior Madi Berkholz and junior Sarah Nading led the second set with a combined seven aces.
Berkholz and Nading, along with Molly Driggs and Kayleigh Dodson, all finished with four aces in the match.
“We are very versatile,” Kane said. “We’ve got multiple players that can play different positions and that’s a benefit for us.”
Dripping Springs sprinted out to an 11-1 lead in the third set and finished with a 25-6 win.
Kane said he has challenged his team to stay focused and “dialed in” as the regular season winds down and to maintain that intensity each contest.
“I feel like the kids have been very dominant, and when you are that dominant, it’s easy to lose sight of, ‘do we take this serious or do we play as hard as we did before,’” Kane said. “Or we know we dominated this team last time, we played them, and what is our mentality going into it? I’ve been challenging the kids to stay focused and dialed in, and have internal goals, and not necessarily worry about the other side of the net.”
