Cinco Ranch gave everything it had.

The Cougars wanted to be in this spot and they had their chance, giving everything on Saturday in their Class 6A State Final matchup. The Cougars laid everything on the line, but weren’t able to overcome Grand Oaks in the state final, falling in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-13).

Cinco and Grand Oaks were neck and neck in the first set. Both teams went back and forth and the Cougars took a 21-20 lead, but Grand Oaks came back to score four of the last five points in the set to take it 25-22 and take an important lead.

The Cougars came back strong early in the second set, and fought tooth and nail as it was again close the whole way. The Cougars had a late lead for the second straight set at 23-22, but Grand Oaks answered again, scoring the last three points of the set to win it 25-23.

Being so close in both of the first two sets took a lot out of Cinco Ranch and Grand Oaks took its momentum into the third set, running away with it and clinching the third set 25-13, bringing the Cougars best ever season to an end.

“They have a lot of really good hitters, they have a lot of height and they’re really powerful,” Wells said. “They were putting the ball away and we couldn’t stop them. Our tallest person is our setter (Kassie O’Brien) and she’s six foot so it’s a battle at the net when they have so much height.”

Gabi Martinez led the way with 11 kills for the Cougars, while Kassi O’Brien had 20 assists and four kills, Emily Killam had four kills and three blocks, Makenna Loo had four kills and nine digs and Maggie Finnegan had 10 digs for the Cougars. Grand Oaks was led by Halle Thompson and Samara Coleman, who had 15 and 13 kills respectively, while Thompson also had three blocks.

Cinco ends their best ever season with a record of 38-6, the Cougars went on a 22 game win streak on their way to an undefeated district title and the state championship game and even with the loss, every player knows there is a lot to be proud of.

“Getting this far was a blessing, we went as far as we expected to go, Grand Oaks was ranked No. 1 for a reason," Wells said. "Just to get here to the state tournament is amazing and to beat Harlan is another great accomplishment. They did a great job coming out and fighting against Harlan and against Grand Oaks.”