With her team's record hovering around .500 record, Seven Lakes volleyball coach Farah Holder asked just one thing of the Spartans during this weekend’s Spring Branch ISD Invitational: be consistent.

The Spartans pleased Holder Thursday as they opened the tournament splitting their first two matches, losing to Cypress Woods but defeating Northbrook to advance in the consolation bracket. Cy Woods beat Seven Lakes 25-20, 25-17, then the Spartans – with less than five minutes of break time between the two matches – swept host Northbrook 25-7, 25-8.

“We just wanted to come out and be consistent, compete with Cy Woods and I think we did an OK job of that,” Holder said. “We have had kind of a down side right now, so we needed to come in and get some confidence. We did some really positive things against a great team (in Cy Woods), and we have to take the positive away with us even if the negative outweighs it.”

Although the Spartans (7-5) were unable to knock off Cy Woods, which beat Lamar Consolidated in its second match to advance in the winner’s bracket, they did illustrate moments of togetherness and toughness.

Senior Jana Tucker had a kill and then a block on back-to-back points to give the Spartans a 6-1 lead early in the first set against Cy Woods.

Cy Woods regained the lead and pushed it to 23-15, but Seven Lakes got within four, before losing the first set.

“We’re mental,” senior Megan Smith said. “They are a great team and did a good job of tipping (the ball). We thought it was going one place and then it would just drop in front of someone somewhere else.

“But we played well. We put up a fight.”

The Spartans’ match against Northbrook provided a chance to focus on maintaining their intensity and staying consistent.

Seven Lakes led throughout the match, and several players contributed to the win.

“We should have pulled it together and beaten Cy Woods,” Tucker said. “But this (Northbrook) match was a confidence-booster for us, and hopefully it will give us the confidence we need the rest of the tournament.”

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