High School Volleyball

Tompkins sweeps Austin to open playoff run

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 11/1/22

“The biggest things we can do is just take things a match at a time,” Merrell said “If you think about round three and don’t perform in round one or two, then it doesn’t matter and you don’t get there. That’s our focus, winning what’s in front of us and focusing on the here and now.”

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High School Volleyball

Tompkins sweeps Austin to open playoff run

Posted

Tompkins has been gaining confidence all season.

The Falcons have continued to grow with younger players stepping up around an experienced core and reaching improving along the way through non-district and district play.

Tompkins is on a mission to prove themselves even further in the postseason, and they started that in strong fashion on Sunday, with a sweep of Fort Bend Austin on Tuesday in the Bi-District round, leaving no doubt in a 25-19, 25-15, 25-14 win.

“Everyone on this team just comes in every day ready to work,” said senior setter Presley Powell. “We’ve been supporting the younger players and you can see their growth and the whole team just keeps getting better. All of that led to us being ready for moments like these and getting the result today.”

Tompkins took time to settle in, but when they did, the Falcons started to show their ability. The first set was back and forth, with Tompkins eventually pulling away, before the Falcons found their groove in the second set, as they were in control from the middle of the set on.

Tompkins easily pulled away in the third set and secured the sweep in dominating fashion.

 “We let them speed up the game for us early and because of that, Austin was able to stay in it for a little bit,” said senior outside hitter Cindy Tchouangwa. “We just had to calm ourselves down and once we did that, things stopped going back and forth with the points, we were able to make the game go slower and just really play the way we’re capable of.”

It was a big performance for the Falcons, especially with having a number of players being in their first playoff game, but the younger girls handled themselves well and acclimated to the must win environment.

“They relied on that senior leadership that had been here three times, and that got them used to what to expect and how to go at it,” said Tompkins head coach Allison Merrell. “But those girls are fearless, and they don’t think too much about it. They go out and do their jobs. There’s never really that opportunity to overthink it or have fear because they just do it.”

A big reason the younger players in the middle are able to have that success is because of the players they have backing them up. From Powell setting the table, to Tchouangwa and Skylar Skrabanek on the outsides and Tendai Titley helping both on the outside in the middle, the Falcons have the experience, talent and confidence for all of their players to shine.

“I think that’s why the younger middles feel so comfortable is because they have those four around them,” Merrell said. “They know they can get their reps in and take care of the ball because when you get the ball in the hands of those four, they make things happen, and they all players really well tonight and that makes a huge difference for us.”

Tompkins advances to the area round to play Cy-Creek, which swept Heights in the bi-district round, time and date to be determined.

“The biggest things we can do is just take things a match at a time,” Merrell said “If you think about round three and don’t perform in round one or two, then it doesn’t matter and you don’t get there. That’s our focus, winning what’s in front of us and focusing on the here and now.”

Katy ISD, Tompkins, volleyball, sports, bi-district, fort bend austin