Volleyball: Cinco Ranch striving for another run at state championship
A state finalist last season, Cougars are 17-5 and confident their best volleyball is ahead of them
There is a delicate balance Cinco Ranch’s volleyball team is finessing these days, though it’d be difficult to know by how well the Cougars have performed.
Integrating a new outside hitter and middles into an otherwise experienced roster that boasts state championship aspirations following last year’s Class 6A runner-up finish, Cinco Ranch is 17-5 overall, 2-0 in District 19-6A following Tuesday’s sweep of Katy.
Cinco Ranch postgame interviews
The Cougars are ranked No. 16 in 6A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association, seventh in the Greater Houston area, and have dropped one set since Aug. 17. They are 17-3 since an 0-2 start.
Growing pains exist, however, as the Cougars adhere to an elevated standard established by last season’s success.
“We have a lot of new girls on the team this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, hopefully, make it as far as we did last year,” senior setter Kassidy O’Brien said. “We still have that mentality.”
Senior outside hitter Addison Goertz, and senior middle blocker Enya Ghonda and sophomore middle Rahima Kone are blossoming as capable talents asked to replace the graduated prolific production of Makenna Loo, Emily Killam and Shea Rainosek.
Against Katy, Ghonda had six kills and two blocks. Goertz had four kills. Kone had three kills and a block.
“We all fit together, which helps our play as well,” senior outside hitter Gabi Martinez said. “It helps our standard, too, because we know we have the pieces to get us there, even if we may have lost some good pieces.”
Wells was not pleased with her team’s sweep of Katy. The Cougars were sloppy, particularly in serve-receive.
Newness or not, excuses are discouraged from a team striving for the state championship in late November.
“We’re slowly getting into the groove,” coach Danielle Wells said. “Still connecting, finding a way. Still working on the offense, obviously, and getting a little bit more consistent. But overall, they’ve done a great job.”
The Cougars are betting this will look like an entirely different team a month from now.
“Everybody is stepping up, which is what I really like about this team,” O’Brien said.
The core is one of the most talented and experienced in the Greater Houston area.
A University of Kentucky commit, O’Brien, averaging 10.1 assists per set, is a terrific leader of the offense. Her ability to set the perfect ball covers up a lot of offensive ills.
Martinez, a California Baptist University commit averaging 4.5 kills and 2.5 digs per set, is a thunderous hitter, delivering devastating blows with a violent downward swing that is difficult to get under.
“As a team, we have really high expectations of where we want to go and how we can get there,” Martinez said. “We know we can get there.”
Leadership has been essential. O’Brien said she and Martinez are “holding everyone accountable and pushing everyone to their fullest potential.” The Cougars go as they go.
Senior libero Maggie Finnegan is an invaluable voice on the floor. Even Kone, for a youngster, has a presence on the court, Wells said.
O’Brien, Martinez, Finnegan, Goertz and senior defensive specialist Abby Borchardt all played in the state final last year.
“They all have expectations of each other,” Wells said. “There’s leadership in everybody, a little bit. The girls that are experienced, they’ve done a very good job of coaching and encouraging the newbies. They’re setting the expectation.”
The success of last season authored a new beyond for the Cougars. It also gauged how far they still have to go if they want gold, not silver, medals draped around their necks in the last game of the season.
Wells said the team has to get a lot better in certain areas if that’s where they want to go. Specifically, it means cutting out the little mistakes that plagued the Katy game.
Details matter. Talent wins a lot of games in the regular season, but execution matters most in November.
Martinez said the team now knows what’s possible. Playing for a state championship is no longer the goal. The Cougars have been there, done that.
They want it all.
“We want to go out strong and with a bang,” O’Brien said.