The Lake Travis volleyball team had three goals coming into the season.

One was to have a strong pre-district showing and win a tournament. With a record of 30-3 and a Hays Rebel Bash first-place trophy, the Lady Cavaliers have that one knocked out. They finished second at their two other tournaments.

The second goal was to win district outright, obviously motivated by last year’s split championship with Hutto.

“A co-championship is nice, but it’s not the same,” Lake Travis head coach Julie Green said. “I think we’ve done a good job getting ready for the district, and I think the girls see the big picture, that it’s not always about the next match, but about preparing for the long run into the playoffs.”

That will be the mindset to keep early in district play, as the Lady Cavaliers open Friday night at home against Marble Falls at 7 p.m. After the Lady Mustangs, Lake Travis takes on Lampasas and Killen, the two weakest teams in the district before hitting Hendrickson and Hutto – the two strongest – head on. With few challenges waiting for them before those two games, Green said the team is focusing on improving as much as possible, no matter who the opponent is.

“The only issue at this point is complacency and being satisfied with where you’re at,” Green said. “One of the things we always talk about is you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.”

Green is making sure it’s never the latter, thanks to intense practices despite holding the No. 3 spot in the state and a No. 2 spot in Central Texas.

“Some of our best work comes in practice against ourselves, and maybe not in some of the games against opponents,” Green said. “That’s just part of our schedule. We have to make sure we peak at the right time and not go into a lull right before the playoffs.”

Her main goal is making sure that peak comes.

“Last year, we didn’t play as well early on as we have this year, but we peaked at the exact right time,” she said. “I want to make sure that happens again.”

Lake Travis finished up the pre-district schedule with a dominating 25-5, 25-10, 25-14 win over Kerrville Tivy on last Tuesday.

Morgan Hendrix and Taylor Smith led the Lady Cavaliers with nine kills each. Katy Beals and Mackenzie Mayo each had two assists, and Mayo had 11 digs.

Green wasn’t letting weak competition before district play become an excuse later, either.

“It doesn’t matter. We’ve had kind of a letdown in the last few games since some tough tournament play, but of course we’d always rather play tougher games,” she said. “We’ll just continue to focus on getting better.”

As the clear favorites in the district this year, and the favorites to make the deepest playoff run of all the Central Texas teams, that will be key. Especially if they want to tackle the third goal – a state championship.

It won’t be a cake walk, though. As Marble Falls is ranked No. 18 in 4A, Hendrickson will return a strong squad even after the entire 2008 squad graduated and Hutto remains one of the best programs in Central Texas, and the biggest threat to Lake Travis’ district title chances, yet again.