Salado was riding a momentum high after disposing of three straight state-ranked teams during its incredible playoff run and was on the verge of bouncing out the Cougarettes.
Then, Brazos’ Jennifer Brandt rose to the occasion and denied those plans.
Brandt had 16 of her match-high 27 kills in the final two games as the Cougarettes rallied to top the Lady Eagles 21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, 15-9 in the Class 2A Region IV final at Northeast Blossom Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m disappointed, but Brazos came out in those last two games and just started swinging,” fourth-year Salado coach Bree Holz-Gonzales said. “We did a good job of digging up their hitters in the first three games, but they just started picking up on our defense and finding the holes.”
The Lady Eagles finished their school-record season at 38-6, beating No. 25 Weimar, three-time defending champion and No. 12 Poth, No. 3 Hallettsville and George West in the postseason.
But no matter how stingy Salado’s defense was Saturday, Brandt was tougher in the end.
With the Cougarettes trailing 2-1 heading into Game 4, Brandt hammered four kills to give Brazos a 7-2 lead, forcing a Salado timeout. She recorded eight kills during the game as the Lady Eagles never threatened, falling behind 21-11 at one point.
“She’s an awesome player,” Cougarettes coach Denyse Fernandez said about Brandt, who had 30 digs. “I stressed to her that she can get all the kills in the world, but she’d walk away with just a flat face like, ‘OK.’ I said, ‘Show me some excitement,’ because that’s going to make the whole team better and she’s done that the last couple of games. She’s said, ‘I’ll take it, put it on my shoulders because I know I’m going to get the sets and just let me have at it,’ and she did.”
In Game 5, Brandt continued her onslaught, scoring eight of the team’s 15 points.
Salado had a 2-0 lead after Brandt was blocked by Jenna Sebek (13 kills, seven blocks) for a point and she made an attack error.
Brandt responded with two kills as Brazos went on a 6-0 run. She added four more to give the Cougarettes an 11-4 lead and Rosie Hatton’s kill made it 13-6. Lady Eagles captain Danielle Hazzard (16 kills, 19 digs) tried to start a comeback with two kills and Kaitlyn Ruth (39 assists, 27 digs) had a block for a point to pull Salado within 13-9.
The Lady Eagles, though, blocked a Brazos attack out of bounds and Hatton scored a point past Camryn Bintz for the winner.
“Our serve receive broke down in Games 4 and 5,” Holz-Gonzales said. “I think that was the main thing that hurt us. We were giving up so many free balls and so many free opportunities to get it out to No. 23 (Brandt) and I think that’s really what hurt us today.”
Salado never trailed in Game 1 and pushed the lead to 18-9 behind its strong defense. Sophomore Brennan Boydstun (20 digs) had nine digs and libero Lindsey Coffey (31 digs) and Ruth had eight each as the Lady Eagles contained Brandt and the Cougarettes.
In Game 2, Brazos maintained control throughout and held off Salado, which didn’t get within three since falling behind 11-8.
With the score tied at 20 in Game 3, the Lady Eagles’ defense was at its best.
Coffey dug Brandt and Hazzard had a kill for a 21-20 Salado lead. Then, Coffey dug Lateasha Shelton and Ruth had a kill, then the Cougarettes couldn’t handle Hazzard’s serve for a 23-20 margin.
After a Taylor Boggs kill, Hazzard had a kill from the back row for a 24-21 lead. Coffey dug Brandt and Shelton’s attack error gave the Lady Eagles the game and momentum before Brandt began to dominate.
Hazzard, Ruth, Coffey, Kaleigh Rank and Kylee Young were Holz-Gonzales’ first four-year class, and they ended their careers with a school-record season.
“They have completely raised the bar of volleyball at Salado, which was pretty much non-existent before I got here,” Holz-Gonzales said. “I don’t know if they’re replaceable."
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
