Duncanville Tournament Day 1

Lady Cats shining at tourney The Central High School volleyball team won two of its three matches on the first day of the Tournament of Champions in Duncanville on Friday. The Lady Cats (3-1) beat Bishop Lynch 25-23, 25-22 in the opening round and Plano 25-22, 25-22 in the team’s third match of the day. Central’s only loss, the first of the season for the Lady Cats, was an 18-25, 25-23, 25-23 decision against San Antonio Reagan, the No. 2 team in the state. “They were fearless,” Central head coach Connie Bozarth said “They were not scared at all. It’s real easy to get intimidated watching San Antonio Reagan and Plano warm up, and we didn’t back up one inch. I was proud.” Central had a chance to win both the second and third games against Lady Raiders. Both games were tied at 23 with the Lady Cats serving, but they committed a pair of errors in each case to give the game to Reagan. Even though the loss to Reagan knocked the Lady Cats out of the running for the overall tournament title, Bozarth thought her team proved they belonged among the elite teams in the state on Friday. “There’s still people out there who think we’re a fluke,” Bozarth said. “Somebody made a comment that we were the best of the worst teams there, but we beat them, so it doesn’t carry a lot of weight for me.”

Duncanville Tournament Day 2

The Central High School volleyball team defeated Arlington Lamar 25-18, 18-25, 25-16 Saturday in the third-place consolation match at the Tournament of Champions in Duncanville. The Lady Cats opened the day with a 25-13, 25-13 win over Plano East. After that, they dropped a 25-23, 25-22 nailbiter against Coppell before beating Lamar. On Friday, the Lady Cats gave second-ranked Austin Reagan a run for its money before falling 18-25, 25-23, 25-23. Central coach Connie Bozarth was pleased with her team’s showing this weekend. “We hung with Reagan and Coppell,” Bozarth said. “Coppell has four Division-I signees. I think we definitely now know we can hang with the big dogs. And we actually brought home a trophy, so that’s a big deal. “Out of the 38 teams, 16 are ranked in some poll. It was a tremendously tough tournament. We didn’t stick out like a sore thumb.”