Westlake Picayune

By Thomas Jones, Sports Editor 

With their tournament season now behind them, Westlake coach Al Bennett can look back at the first month and pinpoint areas of improvement.

And that search begins at the service line.

Service errors continued to plague the Chaps at last weekend’s Pearland tournament, where Westlake (18-7) won four of six matches to place sixth out of 76 teams.

“That’s the one area we have to get better in,” Bennett said. “We cannot keep giving points to good teams. We won’t beat them that way.”

Bennett, who missed the tournament because of a death in the family, cited Westlake’s contest against Amarillo in the medal round at Pearland as an example. Amarillo, the defending state champion, defeated Westlake 19-25, 26-24, 25-23 despite tallying less kills and aces than  the Chaps. 

Sara Shaw had 20 kills in that match, and Abby Howden added eight kills and eight digs along with a pair of blocks. 

The Chaps defeated Clear Spring (25-6, 25-12), Living Stone (25-13, 25-6), Alamo heights (25-12, 25-16) Houston Stratford (26-24, 25-20), Fort Bend Travis (25-18, 25-14) and Round Rock Westwood (25-16, 25-21).

They lost to San Antonio O’Connor 28-26, 25-21 in the semifinals.