The Lake Travis High School Lady Cavs volleyball team capped a perfect season sweeping Richardson Pearce 25-13, 25-16 and 25-14.

The win earned the team’s second consecutive Class 4A state championship Saturday, November 19 at Texas State University-Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos. The Lady Cavs also set a University Interscholastic League (UIL) record with 50 victories and no losses.

The team—which has six NCAA Division I recruits—earned its third trip to the state tournament in the last four seasons, having won the school’s first title last November. First-year Lady Cavs head coach Jennifer Kazmierski picked up her first state championship.

“What a feeling,” said Kazmierski. “I’m so proud of these girls. This is an incredible accomplishment that each of these girls worked so hard for the entire year. It’s been a long, but rewarding season. I thank our district and school administration, the Lake Travis High School faculty and staff, our parents and the entire Lake Travis community for their support of our girls and our volleyball program.”

Lady Cavs senior outside hitter Amy Neal was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive year.

Additionally, Beals—a University of Washington commit, and Amy Neal—a University of Texas commit, were recently selected as 2011-2012 Under Armour First Team All-Americans. The duo will comprise a 24-member team of the country’s best female athletes invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Volleyball Match & Skills Competition. Sponsored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the event will be held December 16 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

In July, Beals and Neal—together with fellow Lake Travis teammates Mackenzie Mayo and Sierra Patrick—won the gold medal at the USA Volleyball junior national championships as members of the Austin Juniors Volleyball Club. Neal won the tournament MVP Award while Beals earned All-Tournament team honors.

Read Thursday’s edition of the Lake Travis View for complete game coverage and photos.

They may have lost a battle, but they didn’t lose the war. The Lady Cavs composed themselves and sent yet another foe packing, 25-11, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22 in the UIL state tournament inside Strahan Coliseum.

The win places Lake Travis in the Class 4A finals Saturday as they try to defeat Richardson Pearce (36-13) in their quest to win a second-consecutive state championship.

Coach Jennifer Kazmierski told her team that winning sets was never the goal — a state championship was.

“These girls are very motivated,” Kazmierski said. “They have specific goals. I think the number one intangible is their character. They’re just good kids. I don’t know how to say it any other way. They understand what it is to excel. They will talk about being accountable. They know what they want.”

Senior Sierra Patrick combined Mackenzie Mayo to put a tough Foster team down.

Foster split the first two sets, but the Lady Cavs were just too much in the end.

Now the Lady Cavs will find themselves in a rematch with Pearce, which aims for revenge after Lake Travis managed to dig out a 25-27, 20-25, 25-12, 25-17, 15-8 victory in last year’s semis. Now the stakes are higher and the number one ranked Lady Cavs are considered to be a much improved team.

The match was like a broken record. The two schools from the Austin area, the Lake Travis Lady Cavaliers and Cedar Park Lady Timberwolves, had done this before.

In fact, this meeting was the fourth time the teams had played each other on the season and the result, like the previous three, was a clean sweep for the No.1 Lady Cavs.
Following a 25-12, 25-17, 25-20 victory over the Lady Timberwolves Saturday afternoon in San Antonio, the defending state champions return to the tournament with the hopes of repeating.
Cedar Park (35-17) completes the season further along the playoff brackets than last year’s regional quarterfinal.
Lake Travis (48-0), meanwhile, continues an unbelievable streak of undefeated play. Not only have the Lady Cavs not lost a match, they have yet to even drop a set.
Coach Jennifer Kazmierski said that despite the record, she is only focused on what the team can do to improve.
“I don’t talk about it (the streak) because I don’t like to put that pressure on the kids,” Kazmierski said. “For me, I don’t care if we lose a set. I just want to win the match. That’s the most important thing.”
The Region IV champions have been able to accomplish both, thanks to the play of their savvy seniors — outside hitter Amy Neal and right side hitter Sierra Patrick. Neal led the team with 11 kills and 3 serving aces, while Patrick contributed 6 kills.
Neal said the team does not have time to focus on anything but the next match.
“We go into any match knowing that every team is going to give their best,” Neal said. “Everyone is going to want to beat us. We have the same mentality for every game. You never know when a team can come up and beat you.”
Patrick acknowledged that the streak does add more attention to each match, but echoed Neal’s sentiments.
“There is some pressure, but we go into every game like any other game,” Patrick said. “We’re still going to give the same amount of effort for the games coming up as we have any match in the past.”
What makes the feat even more impressive lies in the fact Kazmierski is a first year coach with the squad. She said she believes the team has the ability to come out on top once again, and the girls will be fired up heading into next week.
Neal and Patrick said the team has embraced the undefeated role.
“We’re so close to achieving that goal,” Patrick said. “Why stop now?”

Lake Travis plays Richmond Foster tonight at Strahan Coliseum on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos. Gametime is 7 p.m. The victor will play the winner of the Canyon Randall/Richardson Pearce game for the state championship  Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m., also at Strahan Coliseum.

— By Paul Gilmore

The Lady Cavs advanced to the Canyon game by virtue of a straight-set win over Smithson Valley, 25-18, 25-19, 25-13 on Nov. 4.

For complete coverage, read the Thursday edition of the Lake Travis View.

Keeping its streak of consecutive sets won without a loss, the Lake Travis Lady Cavaliers kept its perfect record intact Nov. 1 with a win over LBJ for the bi-district title.

The girls won in a sweep, 25-6, 25-6 25-5
They prepared carefully for the game with a warm up win over Houston’s Cypress Woods Oct. 28 in Giddings.
Cy-Woods is a state-ranked 5A team that lost in the state playoffs last season. The Lady Cavs beat them in Giddings, 25-16, 25-17, 25-19.
“The warm-up went great,” said coach Jennifer Kazmierski. “We were very pleased with the way the team performed.”
The team will play Smithson Valley at home for the area title on Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.
Visit www.ltvolleyball.org for game times and additional information.

Lake Travis Lady Cavs’ Volleyball Head Coach Jennifer Kazmierski is happy her team seems unconquerable — but this past week, she and her team had sights set on a goal that has not yet been conquered — breast cancer.

The Lady Cavs hosted Cedar Park for its “Dig Pink” event Oct. 11. The team raised more than $8,000 for breast cancer research. The Lady Cavs cruised to victory in straight sets, 25-15, 25-8, and 25-14. The Lady Cavs have not lost a set this year — more than 90 straight — and are 40-0 in matches.
“We played great,” Kazmierski said. “We had a huge crowd. It was a big night for us. We have been working on our defense and blocking quite a bit of late. We felt like we did a great job of accomplishing the things we have been working on.”
Kazmierski was pleased with the defensive play.
“I thought we did played great defensively,” Kazmierski said. “We’ve been working on speeding up our transition game, which was part of our practice routine. We also worked on our middle attack and that also looked good.”
Kazmierski said it was difficult to single out one player offensively in the Cedar Park game, but felt the team’s play was more “balanced,” and that was a good thing.
“We got the ball to multiple different players and scored from different positions,” Kazmierski said. “That is the goal. If you can do that, then you create major problems for the other team to worry about. So that is what we are trying to do — get good match ups and try to keep the other team off its game.”
In the Oct. 13 game, Vista Ridge didn’t fare any better than Cedar Park — or anyone else this season has.
Again, the Lady Cavs won in straight sets — 25-10, 25-8, and 25-22.
Making the victory all the sweeter was the fact it was senior night for the Lady Cavs.
“We have nine seniors on our team,” Kazmierski said. “Eight of the nine are committed to play volleyball at the collegiate level next year, which is phenomenal. I have never been a part of a team that had so many girls committed to play at that level — so this is a pretty incredible group.”
Seniors on the team include Sierra Patrick, Kaci Eaton, Cassie Wang, Katy Beals, Mackenzie Mayo, Piler Toler, Amy Neal, Gabby Bienkowski and Shelby Lineberry. Even manager Clare Massey is a senior. Eaton is committed to Texas A&M, Eaton is headed to the University of North Texas, Wank is committed to Washington University — St. Louis, Mayo to Baylor, Toler to Texas Christian University, neal to the University of Texas and Bienkowski to Great Falls University.
“They are all extremely talented, but also very gracious and humble young ladies,” Kazmierski said. “They are a real pleasure to coach.”
For Kazmierski, senior night had a lot of meaning.
“It was a great night.” Kazmierski said. “Anytime you are recognizing seniors on an evening, it is always special.”
For Kazmierski, the Lady Cavs have cleared a hurdle.
“Vista Ridge and Cedar Park are definitely the two toughest teams in our district,” Kazmierski said. “So these were good tests for us.”
Offensively, Kazmierski said her team excelled in every aspect of the game.
“We had three players tied for the kill lead — Sierra, Amy and Claire McCown — and that’s a good night,” Kazmierski said. “We’ve always been strong offensively because we have so many weapons. I think we are really tough to beat because of the things we are doing offensively — and our defense had come so far.”
It is defensively that Kazmierski said she is most pleased with the progress of her team this season.
“We are actually starting to block and that is helping us to transition back, which is a big part of what makes a good volleyball team,” Kazmierski said. “You have to be able to do that against really good teams. I definitely feel we are starting to do that as well, which makes us a lot tougher to handle.
Kazmierski said she doesn’t worry about her team becoming so complacent.
“Each game matters,” Kazmierski said. “And we need to finish each game strong. There is always something we can do to get better.:
With near flawless play, that’s a hard concept to fathom, but Kazmierski said it is possible, and it is a must as the Lady Cavs prepare for a run to defend its state title.
“I try to get really specific with things we are working on in practice,” Kazmierski said. “Each week we work to stop the problems we see and grade ourselves on the previous week’s performances. That keeps them focused on what they are trying to accomplish — to reach their inevitable goals.”
Kazmierski said she doesn’t have to light a fire under this team.
“These girls are very motivated,” Kazmierski said. “They have specific goals. We really haven’t had many bumps in the road along the way, so they are doing a great job of staying focused.”
Kazmierski said the team is working to increase the speed of its play.
“We are working to get faster,” Kazmierski said. “We can do that in our service game, but our big thing is with the rally. We need to finish the rally. Once you are in the middle of a rally, that’s when everything tends to slow down, so that’s something we want to improve. We are also working on starting off strong, because that is were we tend to sit back and see how hard other teams are going to play. We do a lot of mini-games to control that.”
Kazmierski said she is blessed with leadership and a group of players who have been tested by the fire and been proven to be gold after the process.
“I think the number one intangible is their character,” Kazmierski said. “It’s funny — the will come in and grade themselves every day — so they are keeping themselves accountable. They’re just good kids. I don’t know how to say it any other way. They understand what it is to excel. They will talk about being accountable — I don’t even have to bring it up. I think that comes from the experiences they have had previously — they know what they want — but it also comes from our great senior leadership. They do a great job of balancing each other out and picking up where the other left off.”
There is something magical going on in the locker room, Kazmierski said.
“It is an amazing group,” Kazmierski said. “They like each other. They understand the worth of each of them — they know what each player brings to the table.”

It’s getting closer to crunch time for the top-ranked Lady Cavaliers (38-0, 8-0).

Lake Travis breezed to sweeps over Marble Falls and Vandegrift last week, which set up a big week against Cedar Park and Vista Ridge.
In the first meeting between Marble Falls and Lake Travis, the Lady Mustangs proved little challenge on the Lady Cavaliers’ home floor. But throughout district play, it’s become clear that when Lake Travis hits the road, it has a little more trouble focusing. That held true in Marble Falls, but the result was still largely the same – 25-11, 25-13, 25-12.
“[Marble Falls] did some things better, and I felt like we weren’t nearly as sharp as we should have been,” Lake Travis head coach Jennifer Kazmierski said. “We struggled with our intensity at the beginning, but the girls were able to come back and take care of it. I was able to play a lot of our bench, which was great.”
When Lake Travis buries the opposition in short order, the bench gets plenty of work. But after a relatively laborious win over Leander over a week ago, and some other tough road trips where the Lady Cavaliers have struggled to find a rhythm, the bench is staying warmer than the coach would like.
“I think that’s the trick right now in this part of our season,” Kazmierski said. “We’ve had to gear up for the second part of district, and potentially what we’ll see in the playoffs. We have to recognize that there are still things we have to do better, and an effort that needs to be made in practice to accomplish that.”
And the excitement will start to build with the big matches this week, which signal the impending playoffs.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead, but the second half of district is always exciting because the teams know where they stand and what they have to do,” Kazmierski said. “Teams are either going to gear up and get after it because they’ve got nothing to lose, or gear up and get after it because of how important the match is.”
The Lady Cavs responded with a strong start against Vandegrift on Friday, but then tapered off at the end. Still, they walked away with another sweep.
“I thought we started well, and got better in set two,” Kazmierski said. “In set three, we got complacent and started playing point-for-point, and we had to refocus. On top of that, Vandegrift did a much better job in the third set and really pushed.”
Kazmierksi expects teams to go all-out and take risks the rest of the way against Lake Travis simply because of the disparity that’s been created in the district.
“I think we’re going to get the ‘we’ve got nothing to lose’ attitude from teams the rest of the way in district and even some in the playoffs,” she said. “We need to be ready for that.”
In a year when road matches have been a drag, two home matches against the Cedar Park squads is a welcome change.
“I’m very excited about playing our two biggest matches at home against the two best teams we face in district play,” Kazmierski said. “We’re going to have a big crowd tonight, which is fun because Cedar Park is in second place, and because the Dig Pink cause has been so important to our program and our community.”
The Lady Cavaliers have again pushed hard to raise money along with Dig Pink for the Susan G. Komen foundation to fight breast cancer. Tuesday night marked the squad’s annual fundraising celebration, complete with a tailgate party and packed house clad in pink.
“These parents and kids could put on any kind of event and be successful. It’s really great. The kids get so into it, and do a great job of buying in,” Kazmierski said. “And I can’t say enough about our parents. They are amazing and rise to the challenge. I couldn’t do my job without them. I have no idea how I could get all of this stuff done.”
Lake Travis takes on Vista Ridge tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m., earlier than normal to accommodate the homecoming crowd. The Lady Cavaliers close out district play on the road next week against Dripping Springs and Rouse.

Granted, Lake Travis handled the Lady Lions in a non-district 3-0 sweep, and none of the sets were ever really in doubt, but the seamless ease with which the Lady Cavaliers normally operate was lacking for most of the first two sets.

Lake Travis found itself in that position for two reasons, the first of which was solid defensive play from Leander’s back row and libero O.J. Olson.

“I think they knew we were going to come out and hit hard, so they backed up and dug really well. Meanwhile, we did a really nice job of putting it right there for them,” Lake Travis head coach Jennifer Kazmierski said with a smirk. “All joking aside, their libero did a really nice job against us. She was right where she needed to be a lot of the time, and not just her, but left back also. They did a great job of transitioning back at us and running the slides in the middle.”

Leading 13-11 in that first set, Lake Travis went on a 5-0 run that was capped by Kaci Eaton kill.

Two straight points by Katy Beals and Piper Toler would close out a 25-16 first set win.

The second set didn’t go much differently, as Lake Travis struggled to gain separation early on. Again at 13-11, Lake Travis went on a 5-0 run, this time capped by a Claire McCown kill.

The second 5-0 run of the night by Lake Travis was, however, the turning point in the match. Lake Travis won the second set 25-17.

“I think when we adjusted our base, we controlled things better,” Kazmierski said. “They were hitting the seam with us and we weren’t controlling it well, so we stuck our girls back outside and stopped pinching. Once we did that, we started blocking, we started digging and channeling the ball to our defense. We could actually run our offense back and when Claire got going in the middle, that really helped our outside hitters, so establishing that was really big for us.”

The second factor that seemed to play with the momentum in the first two sets was the Leander energy level. From the first point of the match to the final point, the Lady Lions were shrieking with every point won. It was loud, generally irritating and bounced off of every wall in the gym. Most of all, it played a factor, which meant it worked.

“The difference before the game was obvious. Leander was screaming and going crazy, and I’m looking at our kids and they’re chilled and relaxed,” Kazmierski said. “Now, we’re not a high energy, screaming kind of team. But we need to identify when a team is going to be that way so that we can come out strong from the start.”

Once the adjustments were made and the war of attrition was clearly going Lake Travis’ way, though, the Lady Cavaliers started pulling away, winning the third set 25-13, again capped by a McCown kill.

Slow starts are nothing new to a Lake Travis squad that simply hasn’t faced enough challenge this season to consistently be motivated. But that’s no excuse.

“It is a little frustrating, especially when we talked about it and identify it ahead of time,” Kazmierski said. “The girls acknowledge it when it happens, but we need to be able to make those changes faster.”

To their credit, a change midway through the second set of a match is a pretty quick turn. In those moments, it’s about improving each individual approach ever so slightly to get a big change in the team’s overall performance.

“A lot of times we talk about an increase in percentage in how we’re executing our jobs,” Kazmierski said. “When we’re doing our jobs, but we need more, we say we need to be 10 percent better. It’s a small increment that can make a big difference. It makes us faster and stronger in every aspect.”

No adjustments were necessary on Tuesday against Rouse, as the Lady Cavaliers easily dispatched the second-ranked team in district 25-6, 25-10 and 25-10.

“I thought we did a better job of being prepared the whole match, but I think it’s easier to do that at home,” Kazmierski said. “We had a crowd behind us, the energy was positive and we fed off of it. But when it’s a big crowd like this and the noise is against you, it’s definitely different.”

Help the Lady Cavs fight cancer

■ Lake Travis High School Volleyball will host their Fourth Annual “Dig Pink” game on Tuesday, Oct. 11, when the team takes on Cedar Park. The $5 hamburger meal (hamburger, chips, cookie and drink) tailgate party starts at 4 p.m. outside the gym. Look for the tents and pink balloons. All teams play Cedar Park with the Freshman and JV games beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Varsity game at 6:30 p.m. There will again be a drawing for an iPad. The price is $5 per chance, $20 for five chances. “Fight Like a Girl” t-shirts will also be sold for $10 each. A form may be downloaded off the team website (www.lthsvolleyball.org) and turned into the front office at school.All proceeds will go to the Side-Out Foundation. Please help LTHS Volleyball make this special night a great success. It will be a great night of volleyball along with the fundraising festivities. Deadline for advance shirt orders is Oct. 4.