The Cy-Fair Bobcats defeated Clear Creek in the Region III 5A Final, 25-12, 25-12, and 25-14 Saturday at the Campbell Center, clinching the Bobcats a spot in next weekend's state tournament in San Marcos.
“It’s just amazing. It’s the most incredible feeling right now. You can’t contain this kind of feeling. I wish I could feel like this everyday of my life,” Cy-Fair coach Donna Benotti said.
But before the Bobcats could celebrate, they needed to take care of business on the court.
To begin the scoring, Cy-Fair’s Chiney Ogwumike hit a kill. Clear Creek’s Megan Pendergast hit a kill to cut Cy-Fair’s lead in half, 4-2. The Wildcats’ Becky Bekelja tapped the ball over the net to cut Cy-Fair’s lead in half again, 10-5. Cambrey Oehler hit a kill for Cy-Fair, bringing the score to 13-6. A block by Nneka Ogwumike and Allicia Garza gave the Bobcats a 10-point lead, 19-9. Then Lacy Hayes served an ace to make it 20-9. Another block by N. Ogwumike and Garza gave Cy-Fair a 21-10 lead. Cy-Fair won the game 25-12.
“We had so much anticipation for this. We’ve been waiting for this opportunity. This afternoon during our warm-up, I just knew the kids were going to be ready to play. They were just too focused,” said Benotti.
Game 2 started with a block from Chiney Ogwumike and Oehler for a 1-0 lead. Clear Creek’s Madeline Gaffney hit two back-to-back kills for a 3-1 lead. But Cy-Fair couldn’t be held back. Nneka Ogwumike hit a kill for a 7-4 lead.
Nneka Ogwumike hit another kill for a 14-7 lead and her block put the Bobcats up 21-11. Clear Creek’s Gaffney hit a kill to give the Wildcats their final point of the game.
Nneka Ogwumike hit two back-to-back kills for Cy-Fair’s lead 3-1. The score jumped to Cy-Fair leading 12-3 as the Wildcats’ Natalie Kraus hit two kills for a score of 12-5. Kraus’ teammate Pendergast served an ace to trail Cy-Fair by five points. Chiney Ogwumike hit two kills for a 17-10 lead over Clear Creek. Then as Cy-Fair led 22-13, Nneka Ogwumike had a block and an over the shoulder hit to put the Bobcats one point away from going to state. The Bobcats scored and defeated Clear Creek 25-14.
“The kids came out and played great volleyball. We had great digs and we were great offensively. We were just really focused for tonight,” Benotti said.
“It’s just really exciting. And the most important thing is that we get to go [to state] together. This group is amazing. Everybody loves each other and I’m just really happy to go to state with this team,” said Nneka Ogwumike, Cy-Fair’s middle blocker.
Nneka Ogwumike was the kill leader with 10 kills. Cambrey Oehler had 8 and Chiney Ogwumike and Ashley Vander Hey both had 6.
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