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SAN MARCOS -- Gumption and guile helped the Iola volleyball team rise to the state final, but there the Lady Bulldogs encountered a stronger G-force.
Taller, more experienced and just plain good, the Windthorst Trojanettes claimed their ninth state championship with a 25-13, 25-22, 25-11 victory over the Lady Bulldogs in the UIL Class A championship match at Strahan Coliseum on Saturday morning.
The Lady Bulldogs played in the state final for the first time, eclipsing the four Iola teams that were eliminated in the semifinal round of the state tournament. Iola, which did not have a senior on its roster, finished the season 36-4.
"We have done an amazing job this year to come this far and make it to the state championship game," junior libero Kelseigh Braaton said. "[Windthorst] has won here a lot. To be able to hang in there and play with them, that will give us something to build on next year."
Windthorst has played in the state final for 11 consecutive years, winning nine times. The Trojanettes finished the season 38-2 with a 32-match winning streak.
The Trojanette roster included six players as tall or taller than Iola's tallest player, 5-foot-10 junior Shelby Bishop. The Lady Bulldogs beat a taller team in their semifinal against Kopperl on Friday, but Windthorst's skill level was as impressive as its height.
"I'm proud of our girls," Iola coach Jamie McDougald said. "All year long they've worked so hard and done so well. They've been outmanned so many times and managed to find a way to win. I hate to lose, and I wanted so bad for the girls to win, but sometimes you run into a wall. They were just better than us."
The Lady Bulldogs topped Windthorst in service aces 9-6, but the only other area in which Iola had an edge relates to next season. There are no seniors on the Iola roster, while the Trojanettes had 10 seniors, including two starters.
"Next year hopefully we'll meet up with Windthorst again, and beat them in three games," said junior Hannah Pointer, who played a solid all-around game with five kills and six assists.
The big, strong Trojanettes dominated at the net with a 36-21 edge in kills and a telling 8-0 advantage in blocks. Iola had to rely on scrappy back-row defense and precision attacks aimed around the big blockers and into holes in the defense.
Braaton was a defensive dynamo with 20 digs, often extending points by handling hot shots from finals MVP Whitney McCorkle and 6-2 middle blocker Mallory Schenk. Bishop added nine digs for Iola.
Iola began the match well, grabbing a 9-4 lead thanks to a sizzling start by Pointer. After a timeout, however, the Trojanettes took 21 of the next 25 points to win.
The second game was tight all the way. The Lady Bulldogs scored three points in a row on a dig by Sabrina Bookman and two service winners by Braaton to lead 22-21 and lift the spirits of their fans in the crowd of 2,200, but the Trojanettes collected the final four points on errors by Iola.
"We knew we had to be on our A game to hang in," McDougald said. "It got to the end and maybe we wanted to ace them and end it fast. Maybe we should have showed more patience."
Mercedes Alafa led the Lady Bulldogs with seven kills. After watching Bishop collect 18 kills in the semifinal, Windthorst made her the focus of its defense and allowed her two.
McCorkle pounded out 15 kills for the Trojanettes.
• Larry Bowen's e-mail address is larry.bowen@theeagle.com.
