Cy Woods volleyball team No. 1
By L. SCOTT HAINLINE
CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT
It's about time for a Houston area school to take top honors at the Pearland Volleyball Classic, and some are saying top-ranked Cy Woods may be the team to do it.
Coming off a championship at the Cy-Fair ISD Tournament last week, and being ranked as the state's top Class 5A team in a recent Texas Girls Coaches Association poll, Cy Woods is among the top seeds at the prestigious event in Pearland.
The 13th annual Pearland Classic runs next Thursday through Saturday at Pearland and Dawson High Schools, and Pearland South and Berry Miller Junior Highs, with a 76-team field that features much of the best in Texas schoolgirl volleyball.
Richardson J.J. Pearce is back after a 2009 championship finals victory against San Antonio Reagan, which won the event in 2008 and also returns.
Top seed Austin Westlake has dominated this tournament by winning the first four classics (1998-2001), and going back-to-back in 2003-04 and 2006-07 for eight total titles.
The only Houston area teams to finish first are Clear Creek in 2002 and Stratford in 2005.
Cy Woods is seeded seventh, and according to Pearland coach and tournament director John Turner, could be the Houston team to break down that barrier and win it all."
Turner also likes Austin Lake Travis, Carrollton Hebron and many of the other top seeds like Westlake, J.J. Pearce, Flower Mound Marcus, San Antonio Reagan, Amarillo, Friendswood and Canyon Randall.
Cy Woods has been ranked No. 1 in Houston, and the state in a TGCA 5A poll that also had tournament entrants Katy Taylor No. 2, Westlake No. 3, San Antonio Reagan No. 5, The Woodlands No. 6, Marcus No. 7, College Park No. 9 and Corpus Christi King No. 10.
Plenty of teams from the TGCA 4A state rankings will also be in Pearland including No. 1 Lake Travis, No. 2 Pearce, No. 3 Stratford, No. 4 Canyon Randall, No. 5 Friendswood, No. 7 Dallas Highland Park and No. 8 San Antonio Alamo Heights.
Cy Woods is in pool play action on Thursday with Keller Central (8 a.m.), Elkins (10 a.m.) and Montgomery (1 p.m.) at Pearland Junior High South.
Best shots at winning the tournament from the Houston area are Cy Woods, which won (the Cy-Fair) tourney last week, and Magnolia, Katy Taylor and several others," Clear Creek coach Scott Simonds said. We have a chance, and winning it will be our goal, but I'm sure it's probably the same goal for the other 75 teams."
The complete schedule and more information are available at www.pvbclassic.com.
More tournament tidbits
Seven of the 10 Cy-Fair ISD high schools will compete at the Pearland Classic, and here's the Thursday pool schedule:
Langham Creek plays Cinco Ranch (9 a.m.), J.J. Pearce (10 a.m.) and Smithson Valley (noon) at Pearland High School.
Jersey Village plays Clear Lake (9 a.m.), San Antonio Reagan (10 a.m.) and Dallas Lake Highlands (noon) at Dawson High School.
Cy Falls plays Amarillo (8 a.m.), A&M Consolidated (11 a.m.) and Midlothian (noon) at Pearland Junior High South.
Cy Creek plays San Antonio Churchill (2:45 p.m.), Clements (5:45 p.m.) and Grapevine (6:45 p.m.) at Pearland High School.
Cy Ranch plays McKinney Boyd (3:45 p.m.), Round Rock Westwood (4:45 p.m.) and Tomball (6:45 p.m.) at Dawson High School.
Cy-Fair plays San Antonio Brandies (2:45 p.m.), Fort Bend Austin (5:45 p.m.) and Dripping Springs (6:45 p.m.) at Pearland Junior High South.
