SAN ANTONIO – The combination of Westlake’s most experienced player and its future star helped the Chaps continue their reign as queens of Class 5A’s Region IV with a 25-20, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19 over San Antonio O’Connor Saturday at St. Mary’s University.

Senior all-state outside hitter Sara Shaw hammered 25 kills, while sophomore Paige Caridi added 18 kills for the Chaps (38-6), who won the region for the third consecutive time and reached the state tournament for the seventh time this decade. O’Connor ended its season at 40-4.

“It’s unbelievable if I think about it,” Westlake coach Al Bennett said, struggling to hold back the tears after the match. “These girls always have to fight the crowd and some good teams down here, but they persevered. And now we’re back at state.”

Bennett took a moment to collect his thoughts and recalled the past two seasons, which both ended with losses to Amarillo in the state championship match.

“We have some unfinished business,” he said.

The Chaps will play in a Class 5A state semifinal match Friday at Strahan Colisuem in San Marcos. A time and opponent has not yet been determined.

The contrasting reactions from Shaw and Caridi after the match highlighted the difference in the experience between the two outside hitters. Shaw, a member of the U.S. Junior National Team and a four-year letter winner for Westlake, said she welcomed the taut environment and raucous O’Connor crowd that filled its half of the St. Mary’s arena.

“I’ve been in a lot of situations like this, and I thrive in it,” she said. “I like feeding off the emotion of the crowd. It was fun out there.”
In comparison, Caridi made no effort to mask her anxiety before the match.

“Oh, yeah, I was nervous,” she said with a grin. “But all my teammates told me not to worry and just play to my ability.”

Caridi, the younger sister of Chap senior Olivia Caridi, saw every match of last year’s playoff run from the stands. She recalled watching the Chaps dispatch San Antonio Reagan for the regional title at St. Mary’s a year ago, but she didn’t anticipate contributing so much so quickly to to a repeat run.

“I was just hoping to get on varsity,” she said.

Caridi and Shaw delivered the key points that helped Westlake close out the match. After O’Connor pulled within 19-18 in the fourth game, Caridi and Shaw alternated kills to force a Panther timeout.

Shaw then snuffed O’Connor’s designed play by stuffing Panther outside hitter Beth Soukup. Caridi set up match point with a pair of aces, and Shaw delivered the final point of the contest when she rocketed a set from Avery Edward’s off the court.

The bulk of kills from both Shaw and Caridi came on the left side as they consistently targeted the block of O’Connor’s short defenders.

“That was the scouting report on them,” Caridi said. “We wanted to aim for the top of their hands and try and get some kills off the blocks.”

Neither team could make a run in the first game until Shaw – and some dart-like serves by Amanda Welsh – took control late in the set. After O’Connor took a 19-18 lead, Shaw had five kills in a 6-1 run that closed out the game. Panther coach Yamiley Garcia called two timeouts in the run in an attempt to stifle the Chaps’ sudden momentum, but her squad had difficulty stringing together passes against the service game of Welsh.

Those serves contrasted with most of the first game, when the Chaps committed five of their 10 service errors.

Westlake hit on all cylinders in game two, both on offense and defense. Katie Darilek highlighted a strong defensive effort with a diving dig off an apparent O’Connor block. The Panthers, already celebrating an apparent point, hit the ball into the net for a Chap score.

The desperate Panther finally gave their frenzied home crowd something to cheer in the third game, when they broke a 17-17 tie and pulled away for a 25-21 win. O’Connor carried that momentum into the fourth game but couldn’t hold off Shaw, Caridi and the Chaps.

The Chaps also received strong production from their middle blockers. Hannah Kolar had four kills and three blocks, and Kenzie Hume delivered four kills and two massive blocks that sparked her team and the Chap support.

Edwards and Welsh ended the match with 28 and 21 assists, respectively.

Soukup led O’Connor with 19 kills, and Kaelen Valdez added 10 kills.

The Panthers, who had just one player 6-foot or taller, did block 10 shots, including six by Lauren Bohlen.