A peculiar thing happened on the way to another Westlake district romp.

Struggling Austin High found some homecourt mojo and aced its way back into the match before falling to the first-place Chaps 25-15, 25-16, 19-25, 25-17 in front of a raucous crowd draped in pink.

And that little bit of struggle didn’t bother Chap coach Al Bennett, who watched his team rebound from its first dropped game in District 25-5A with a decisive performance in the fourth stanza.

“It gave us some adversiy to have to come back in game four and play well, and I was glad to see that,” said Bennett, adorned in a pink-tinged shirt as part of the match’s show of support for breast cancer awareness. “We had to fight a little tonight.”

Such a fight didn’t appear likely after Westlake (27-6, 8-0) jumped to a 2-0 lead behind Sara Shaw, who had 12 of her 15 kills through the first two games. However, the Maroons (17-20, 2-6) refused to succumb quietly.

Led by senior captain Cori Bruce, Austin High picked apart Westlake’s reserves from the service line to win the third game. Bruce fired six consecutive aces to give the Maroons an 8-2 lead, which they never relinquished. Bruce ended the game with seven of Austin High’s 16 aces.

“That group [Westlake's reserves] got in trouble with serve-receive,” Bennett said. “All of a sudden, we couldn’t pass. And I wasn’t going to let them out of it. They had to fight and earn their way out of it.”

Bennett did turn to his starters in the fourth game, but it took them a few points to could blunt Austin High’s momentum. The Maroons raced out to a 6-3 lead, but Kenzie Hume highlighted a 4-0 Westlake run with a thunderous block of Austin High’s Layne Hubbard.

The two teams then traded points before Chap setter Amanda Welsh made a pair of pivotal plays.

With Westlake clinging to a 17-14 lead and Katie Darilek at the service line, Welsh kept a long rally alive by digging a rocket off the hand of Hubbard and then dished out a pass to Shaw, who sent a kill to the court from the back row. The Chap point gave the ball back to Darilek, who promptly served six straight points as Westlake built a 23-14 lead.

“It got pretty intense out there,” Darilek said. “But we work on those situations a lot in practice, so I think we handled it well. We had fun out there.”

According to Bennett, such a performance by the 5-foot-3-inch senior has become typical.

“Katie has been doing that the last few games, and tonight was another example,” he said. “She really has become one of our unsung heroes.”

Paige Caridi added nine kills for the Chaps, and Ella Praisner chipped in five kills and a block.
Hubbard led Austin High with eight kills, and senior setter Alix Dejernett collected 23 assists.

News and notes

Starting middle blocker Hannah Kolar missed her second consecutive game with a foot injury but should return next week, said Coach Al Bennett. Erin Bula, a 6-3 senior, started in her place and recorded three kills and a pair of blocks. “Erin has picked up her game,” Bennett said. “When you start two or three matches in a row, it changes your mentality. She came out ready to play and was big.” … Austin High hasn’t beaten Westlake since the 1998 season, when the Maroons last won a district title.