TATUM’S LADY EAGLES… | They’re the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com TEAM OF THE WEEK!
It is the team of the week award – that’s true.
But this week’s honored team not only didn’t have a defeat last week: they haven’t had one since AUGUST.
That’s right: the calendar didn’t even say “September” the last time they lost. Heck, some schools had not even started when these girls began their 2024 season.
But they’re No. 2 in the state in the Texas Girls Coaches Association poll, haven’t lost at all in district play, and they don’t even lose a set that often.
They’re the Tatum High School Lady Eagles.
And they’re the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week, for the week of Oct. 7 through Oct. 12!
This is actually an honor on a few levels.
First of all, the Lady Eagles are the very first honoree with the Goudarzi & Young, LLP brand on the award (more on that in a moment). Secondly, and appropriately so, this is the Lady Eagles’ second time to win this award – they were named the ETBlitz Team of the Week back on Sept. 23, as well.
But so much has happened since then – not a loss for Tatum, though.
In fact, coach Leven Barker and his team haven’t lost since way back on Aug. 31. They’ve won 14 straight games, and there’s some bigger schools and some big names in there: Duncanville, Hutto, Beckville (a small-school East Texas power), and even locally, West Rusk and White Oak.
Maybe just as impressive: the girls are 16-0 on the season at home, not a single loss. The closest they came was a date against White Oak back on Sept. 20, when White Oak took them to five.
Before that, since that, it’s been domination.
Now, about last week…
They swept Gladewater on Tuesday, 25-10, 25-6, 25-14, at home, and then went to New London – and West Rusk has been state-ranked this year – and came away with a 25-16, 25-17, 25-13 win there, as well, never an easy task.
In the win at Gladewater, Kaysen Foster had 16 kills, six digs and an ace. Kamdyn Scott had eight kills, six digs, four aces and a block.
Taydem Barker had 23 assists, a kill, three aces, and a dig. Karly Stroud had 11 digs and two aces.
Adriana Lomas had nine assists, three aces and a dig. And Aundrea Bradley had seven kills, a dig, a block, an ace.
Against West Rusk, Scott had 15 kills, nine digs, three blocks, and two aces; Foster had 12 kills, five aces and four digs; Stroud had 16 digs and two aces; Bradley had three kills, two blocks, and two digs; and Barker had 31 assists, five aces, two kills, and four digs.
Also on the team, on the roster we have, are Kyndal Greenwood, Taylor Jacobs, Noa Cart, Brayla Williams and Addyson Saunders.
It really is a team effort with Tatum, which is 34-5 now on the season, and is set for a rematch with White Oak, at White Oak, on Tuesday, with varsity around 6:30 p.m., following junior varsity play, then a trip to Sabine on Friday, varsity starting first at 4:30.
Regarding the poll: the Lady Eagles went up last week to No. 2 in the state in 3A in the Texas Girls Coaches Association Poll (see it here: TEXAS GIRLS COACHES ASSOCIATION POLL), and only Bushland (34-4) is in front of them.
We’ve christened our team of the week award with another team we believe in, and that’s the team of Goudarzi & Young, LLP.
We announced our partnership with the firm that bears the names of Brent Goudarzi and Marty Young last week (GOUDARZI & YOUNG, LLP PARTNERS WITH ETBLITZ.COM! | Law firm, ETBlitz form a winning team), and we do believe it’s appropriate that they sponsor our Team of the Week Award, which will be announced each and every Monday for the remainder of the 2024-25 school year, and will then resume in the 2025 school year next fall.
The credentials for Goudarzi & Young are unmatched, and can be found here: Case Results – Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P. – When Winning Matters. (goudarziyounglaw.com).
On their home page, this: “Since 1997, Goudarzi & Young has grown from a small, local firm to a now prominent, well-established, and proven personal injury law firm. Our seasoned attorneys have represented more than 30,000 individuals and tried an impressive list of personal injury law cases. Defense attorneys and insurance companies alike know who we are, and they know our record of success.”
Get to know Brent Goudarzi, who established his work ethic early in life as an athlete in the Gilmer Independent School District, right here: Brent Goudarzi on winning.
And congratulations again to the Tatum High School Lady Eagles, the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week!
There are other girls on the team you failed to mention. They come off the bench for a rotation, and contribute many good plays they help the girls mentioned above to make their plays. Those girls earn serving points that take them to the winning point, or dive for a ball before it goes out of bounds.
It is only fair to name those girls too.
It would not take much more time for your writer to add 2 more sentences!
Mrs. Vickie, I agree, and we have added all the girls we have listed on the roster. I hope that’s the complete team; it is the roster we’ve got. We always run that risk, and in 31 years of doing this, I never want to leave a child out. Hopefully they are all included. Thank you for reading!