Published: October 21, 2009 11:17 am      

Lady Cats clinch first district title

GODLEY — The Godley Lady Cats captured their first ever district championship on Tuesday night at Godley High School after defeating Grandview, 27-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-11.

Godley, which has only had a volleyball program for eight years, moved to 33-5 overall on the season and 12-0 in 15-2A play while the Lady Zebras, last year’s co-champions, fell to 10-2.

Godley head coach Todd Weese said another hurdle has been cleared for his team.

“It feels good,” Weese said. “[Grandview] has such a good team and a good program. It’s a big stepping stone for us and something our kids wanted to do.”

Lady Zebra head coach Stacy Bartosh said her team will keep its head held high going into the playoffs despite the loss and will take advantage of being 15-2A’s second-place squad.

“I don’t think it changes the course of our playoff season drastically at this point,” Bartosh said. “Both of us have a chance to go deep and I think we will.”

Godley’s strategy on the night was to keep Grandview from setting up Vanecia Spencer, Weese said, the Lady Zebras’ powerful striker who finished with 16 kills on the night and three blocks.

“After the first game, I felt like we served a lot more aggressively,” Weese said. “Kayla Zetnick was really instrumental with our serve and we needed to do that because if they got a good pass and Spencer is on the front row, they’re so quick you can’t get a block.

“I thought that was a big key, defensively, and our middle blockers did a better job of staying with her after the first game.”

The Lady Cats’ Tara Goodloe dished out 46 assists in the win while Isabella Shaver finished with 22 kills and 28 digs.

Ashley Allen was also a force for Godley with 10 kills and four blocks.

Kasey Fairbrother finished with 20 digs in the win.

Both coaches said the focus remains on what is directly in front of their respective squads.

“We’re not going to look ahead,” Weese said. “We just want to keep winning and not think about our record or ranking. We only want to think about who we play next.”

The same goes for the Lady Zebras, Bartosh said.

“In Games 2, 3 and 4, we got into some slumps we couldn’t overcome and we set ourselves up with a big deficit,” Bartosh said. “We did a lot of good things, but we’ve got to be able to close when we need to.”

Haley Goldwater finished with 17 kills to lead Grandview and also had 16 assists and 13 digs.

Angie Hughes had 11 digs and two aces while Sam Wallace had 11 digs and 15 assists.