CL Hawks Beat La Vernia & Finish 2nd in District 26-4A

Bailey Drum, Lillie Sander, Mariah Ellis, Grace Allen, and Hannah Wunderlich next goal will be ‘Imposing’

Canyon Lake will be officially in the Playoffs next week as they will have the honor of playing by finishing in second place in District 26-4A after beating La Vernia on Tuesday night, 25-17, 25-20, 25-21.

This win was a sweet victory after answering La Vernia’s five game set in that last contest with the Bears.

A win that showed improvement from a previous game is a sign that Canyon Lake might be ready for their next goal.

Goals are something that has been reached on several venues with this year’s team.

“We were more crisp in our game tonight,” Head Coach Kim Paisley said. “It feels wonderful.”

“We accomplished our goals of putting hardware in the trophy case from three tournaments, getting to the playoffs, and having a chance of winning 30 games this year.”

The Hawks will have a warm up game this Friday against Thrall starting at 5pm.

Lillie Sander was called on in her last game to help CL win this final set of the match with her serve.

“Her (Sander’s) serve had been tough on La Vernia last time we played them,” Coach Paisley said.

Sander had been injured in last Tuesday’s game with Cuero and was still showing signs of a limp on the court tonight.

“I wasn’t expecting any points but it worked out,” Coach Paisley said while responding to putting Sander’s in the game during that part of the game. “She is a Senior and we wanted her to come in and play one more time.”

Sander’s three service points helped Canyon Lake take the lead of the third set, 18-17.

“Coach said get it (serve) in and stand still,” Sander said from one place. “I wanted to move but I couldn’t.”

With two starters out in this game, it emphasized even more how important this game was for CL in how they finished and had other players step up.

“I knew I had to step up and prove myself,” Alexis Robinson stated. “We have been working hard and we have had some up and downs….but we are working hard to win our first playoff game and get that goal, and then we will sit down set some more goals.”

Robinson had two blocks in this game while substituting for Sander’s while also getting an Ace in serving.

Another player that starts but also had to take a more active roll to help take some of Addison Farley’s kills, was Hannah Wunderlich.

Wunderlich had a great game with two blocks and then on the final point of this District season raced into the visitor’s stands and made an excellent save in helping CL finished off the Bears in three sets.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Wunderlich said with amazement in her eyes. “I just ran into the stands and stuck my arm int he air and we got the point.”

This time last year, Canyon Lake had just finished their district play with a eight game losing streak after finishing their non-district games with a, 16-10 record.

Canyon Lake will now be guaranteed having the least amount of losses in a season to go along with the most wins in the program’s history.

Now it is time to go past the first round of playoffs and mark another goal off the proverbial tablet.

“We got second place in District and this was just crazy,” Wunderlich finished.

Congrats Hawks!!!

Hawk Leaders: 25-17, 25-20, and 25-21
Kills:   Bailey Drum 18, Mariah Ellis 6, Hannah Wunderlich 4, Regan Mickey 4
Assists: Regan Mickey 27
Blocks:  Alexis Robinson 2, Hannah Wunderlich 2, Bailey Drum 1
Digs:    Bailey Drum 16
Aces:    Alexis Robinson 1, Hayley Melone 1