IT’S VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFF TIME! | Five ETBlitz-area teams in action tonight, three tomorrow in first-round games

High school volleyball in Texas starts before any sport, even football, all the way back in the summer.

This week, all those hours of camp, all the hours of practice, all the non-district, then the district games that were played – they all begin to pay off.

It’s playoff time.

The University Interscholastic League’s volleyball postseason begins today for many teams around the state, as they begin what they hope is their journey to the UIL’s State Volleyball Tournament. That’s in Garland, at the Curtis Culwell Center, on Thursday, Nov. 21, Friday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Nov. 23. And it’s only the state title games.

So if you wanna play in Garland, this is the time to be playing your best volleyball.

Teams from the ETBlitz.com coverage area headed to the playoffs, and here is what you need to know about this week’s first round playoff games.

Monday (tonight)

• Tatum: The Lady Eagles’ season so far can’t really be summed up in a few words, but here’s one, just off the cuff: AWESOME. Coach Leven Baker and his team have gone 38-5. They’ve won 18 straight. They’ve been state-ranked the entire way, and of course, they’re champions of District 16-3A, having gone unbeaten (12-0) in a solid district that also included playoff-bound White Oak and West Rusk. Two other impressive notes: Tatum went undefeated at home (17-0) so far this season, and had three players win the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Player of the Week award over the course of the year to date: Kamdyn Scott (who won it twice), Kaysen Foster and Karly Stroud. So, who draws the short straw and has to face the Lady Eagles in round one of the UIL Class 3A playoffs? That would be Mineola (24-12), who did win its final regular season game in a sweep of Malakoff, but comes in having lost two of its last three games. Tatum will play Mineola TONIGHT, Monday night, at 6:30 p.m. at Spring Hill High School in Longview. The Tatum-Mineola winner will face either New Boston (19-9) or Hughes Springs (23-17) this weekend. NB and Hughes Springs play Tuesday night in Pittsburg.

• West Rusk: One of Tatum’s biggest rivals and another of our ETBlitz.com teams, the West Rusk Lady Raiders will face Edgewood (18-19) on Monday night in Hawkins, a 6 p.m. start to that bi-district game. The Lady Raiders are 27-12 overall, and finished up 16-3A play as third place in the district behind Tatum and White Oak. What a tough district. West Rusk was so good at home: 15-3 on the season, and also comes into the game against Edgewood with back-to-back wins (home against Sabine last Tuesday, and on the road at Troup last Friday). West Rusk coach Melissa Abrams has three players – junior Kamyah Lacy, sophomore Irelind Hunt and senior Carlie Buckner – who each went over the 200-kill mark this season. Lacy has 243, Hunt, 215, and Buckner, 206. Lacy also has 67 blocks and 73 digs; Hunt, 147 digs, 42 blocks, and 63 aces, and Buckner, 391 digs, and 59 aces. How about Bella Mata? The senior has 866 assists, 288 digs, 65 aces, 18 total blocks and 34 kills. There’s senior Keke Murphy, who has 57 kills, 41 aces, far and away leads the team with 686 digs, and has 47 assists. Kara King, a junior, has 288 digs, 35 assists and 26 aces; sophomore Paisley Smith has 201 digs, 21 assists and 18 aces; and of course, juniors Hannah Haffner and Kimora Pryor. Haffner has 180 kills, 35 aces, a team-leading 85 blocks and115 digs, and Pryor, 169 kills, 42 total blocks, 138 digs, and 23 assists. Edgewood hits playoff time having suffered back-to-back losses. A couple of players to keep an eye on: senior Kennedy Kovar, who has 302 kills, 301 digs, and 26 total blocks; senior Kagan Grant, with 359 digs, 60 kills, 26 blocks, and 45 assists; Berklie Bickham, a junior with 210 kills, 38 aces and 216 digs; and Jaedyn Eldrige: 109 kills, 125 digs, and 19 aces. The winner of West Rusk-Edgewood tonight will face either DeKalb (21-16) or Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill (14-13) this weekend.
• Troup: The Lady Tigers will open the 3A postseason at Hawkins at 8 p.m., the second half of a doubleheader that begins with the game we just talked about, West Rusk and Edgewood. Troup (20-19) will face Grand Saline (24-9) tonight at Hawkins. Troup’s Lady Tigers come in having lost their last three, to Tatum on Oct. 25, to West Rusk on Oct. 29, and a warm-up game at Bullard on Friday. Senior Emory Cover has 255 kills, 229 digs, 41 aces and 14 total blocks this season. Not far behind her in the kill category, sophomore Shiloh Sluder has 241 of ‘em, 31 aces, 26 total blocks and 199 digs. Then, there’s junior Qhenja Jordan, with 223 kills, 381 assists, 82 aces, and 223 digs; and sophomore Chayne Graves – 172 kills, 58 aces, 191 digs, and 362 assists. Grand Saline has won its last three games.

• Overton: Also in action tonight: the Overton High School Lady Mustangs (17-17), who will face Elysian Fields (16-20) tonight at Panola College in Carthage, a 6 p.m. start. Overton is the visiting team for the game. The Lady Mustangs head into the postseason with back-to-back sweeps over Grapeland and Carlisle, and have won five of their last six games. Sophomore Kaylee Stevens leads the team with 166 kills, and also has 227 digs and 37 aces to her credit in 2024. Teammates Mason Fenter, a junior, and Kelsey Vaught, a sophomore, each have 132 kills – Vaught has 39 aces, 39 total blocks and 33 digs; Fenter has 78 digs, 25 aces and 13 blocks. Freshman Sadie Pahlman has 319 assists, 85 digs, and 44 aces; junior Kyauna Bowens-Brown has 92 kills, 10 aces, 18 blocks and 56 digs; freshman Bryleigh Nelson has 301 digs and 25 aces; Skyler Colvin has 62 kills, 54 assists, and 104 digs; and senior Hallie Mayfield has 58 kills, 43 aces; nine blocks 89 digs and 30 assists. The Overton-Elysian Fields winner will meet either Harts Bluff (21-13) or Pewitt (9-21) in round two this weekend. Harts Bluff and Pewitt also play tonight.
• Leverett’s Chapel: The Lady Lions will also check in tonight, taking on Oakwood (8-17) at Palestine High School, a sort-of-late 8 p.m. start. The winner of LC-Oakwood will meet Dodd City (14-10) sometime this weekend in the second, or area, round of the UIL Class 1A playoffs. For LC’s Lady Lions, how about Bailey Ingram: 46 kills and 26 aces this season. And there’s senior Emmaleigh Stroman, with 44 kills and 20 aces.

Tuesday night

• Henderson: Coach Keasa Bonds and the Henderson High School Lady Lions open up their run in the UIL’s Class 4A playoffs against Van. The first round – or bi-district, as they call it – matchup will be Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Gladewater. The Lady Lions had an impressive regular season, going 26-10 overall, and 11-4 in District 16-4A play, which included state-ranked Spring Hill. Spring Hill won the district title, without losing a game, but Henderson was second and lost only four, finishing the regular season with a 20-25, 27-25, 25-18, 17-25, 15-7 marathon against another program in the ETBlitz coverage area, Gilmer’s Lady Buckeyes. Van finished its season with a 27-13 record, and 9-3 in District 15. The Lady Vandals come into the playoffs having won four of their last five district games, although they lost a playoff warm-up game to Neches over the weekend, in three sets. The Henderson-Van winner will face either Sulphur Springs (26-14) or Community (20-21) in the second, or area, round sometime this weekend.

• Gilmer: Speaking of the Lady Buckeyes, they’ll head into the 4A playoffs as the No. 4 seed from 16-4A. Gilmer (22-16) will have the task of trying to knock off the District 15 champs, Lindale, who went 37-8 in the regular season and didn’t lose to anyone in their district (12-0). Gilmer faces Lindale on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Mineola High School. Lindale’s beatable: they actually took a loss on Friday in a warm-up game against Lufkin in five sets, 25-9, 25-13, 20-25, 26-28, 14-16. The Lady Eagles have some power up front. Addison Ridge, a senior, is the team’s co-leader in kills (374), has 95 aces and 281 digs. Sophomore Ella Hutchens also has 374 kills, 55 blocks and 36 digs. And junior Alyssa Potts has 269 kills, 82 blocks, 52 aces and 60 digs. Gilmer will lean on senior leaders Alexis Kemp, Alex Werbeck and Lacey Wilson, and a strong overall lineup. Wilson earned her 1,500^th career kill back on Oct. 11 in a game against Henderson, and on the season, she’s got 521 of ‘em. She also has recorded 77 total blocks, 57 aces, and 223 digs on the season. Brie Jones, a junior, has 419 digs, far away the team leader. Werbeck has 818  aces, assists, 197 digs and 40 kills. Junior Jayna Rucker has 161 kills, 47 total blocks, 40 aces and 122 digs; Kemp has 121 kills, 288 digs, and 36 aces; and Macy Stocks, just a sophomore, has 71 kills, 17 aces, 17 blocks and 45 digs.The winner of the Gilmer-Lindale playoff game will meet either Paris (26-15) or Caddo Mills (28-12) in round two this weekend.

• White Oak: We talked about Tatum, and what a great season the Lady Eagles have had so far. One team pushed Tatum to the limit twice this season, and that was the White Oak Ladynecks. Both compete in 16-3A, and White Oak (28-17) finished the regular year with a 28-17 record, losing just twice in district – in five sets to Tatum on two occasions. The Ladynecks start their run in the UIL Class 3A playoffs on Tuesday night at 7 p.m., taking on Eustace (24-6) at Tyler High School (the former John Tyler High). This note: all tickets for this one are online, and are on sale now at this link: https://tylerisd.hometownticketing.com/embed/all The White Oak-Eustace winner moves on to the area, or second, round to meet either New Diana (27-11) or Atlanta (17-16). That game is actually tonight, in Marshall. White Oak hits the playoffs on about as good of a run as a coach could hope for: they’ve won 10 of their last 12 games, losing only to Tatum and in a warm-up game to perennial playoff power Beckville on Friday, 23-25, 20-25, 25-19, 23-25. When you talk White Oak volleyball, you just about have to start with the incomparable Addison McClanahan, a senior with well over 1,000 kills to her career credit – she has 537 (!) just this year alone. The senior – a two-time Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Player of the Week award-winner just this year – also has 58 aces, 314 digs, and 48 total blocks in 2024. And another senior for White Oak, Alli Sims – is having a fantastic season, as well. Sims has 1,031 assists, 53 kills, 274 digs, 29 total blocks, and 44 aces. There’s junior Andee Bridges, with 272 kills, 241 digs, 22 aces, and 11 total blocks, and London Bodovsky, a senior with 121 kills, 66 aces, 62 total blocks and 58 digs. Karsyn Edwards, another senior, leads the team with 337 digs, and also has 64 assists and 55 aces. London Baker, a sophomore, has 149 kills, 44 total blocks, and 69 digs, and sophomore Peyton Thompson: 37 aces and 190 digs. Eustace comes in with eight straight wins, and an 11-1 district record to its credit. A quartet of key players for the Lady Bulldogs include senior Brylee Altman (156 kills, 278 digs, and 63 aces); Sheyenne Powell (300 digs, 22 aces, 19 total blocks), Madilyn Andrews (145 kills, 22 aces, 110 kills), and Bryleigh Powers (134 kills, 64 aces, 195 digs, and 217 assists).

Our other teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area – Kilgore, Sabine, Arp and Gladewater – missed the postseason, and we wish them better in 2025.

For now, good luck to Tatum, West Rusk, Troup, Overton and Leverett’s Chapel in their opening-round games tonight, and to Henderson, Gilmer, and White Oak on Tuesday, as these teams begin their playoff journey!