Lady Tigers win Area, fall in Regional quarterfinals

By DANIEL WALKER

The Commerce Lady Tigers ended to the 2009 Volleyball season with a Area title on Saturday and a loss in the Regional Quarterfinals on Monday night.

The Lady Tigers finished with a school record for most victories at 37 and a school record with fewest losses at 6 and were the 3A-10 District champions.



Lady Tigers beat Kennedale

GARLAND — The 10th-ranked Commerce Lady Tigers knocked off the Kennedale Lady Wildcats 25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18 in an area volleyball playoff game played at Sachse High School Saturday night.

“We didn’t start off good but we finished good, and that’s what counts,” Commerce coach Kelsey Hall said. “This was our first game in 11 days and we had a lot of cobwebs. Each game we knocked a few more cobwebs off. I’m proud of the way everyone played.”

After trailing 16-15, the Lady Tigers broke open the first game with a kill from Kayla Clark to tie the game, an ace from Chaney Moreland and a pair of kills from Raven Massey that gave Commerce a 19-16 lead. Danielle Essix carried the load down the stretch getting a block, a kill and then an ace on a game-point serve for the 25-21 win.

Massey put away four straight kills to build a 20-14 Commerce lead in the second match but the Lady Cats rallied to tie the game at 24-24 prompting a Commerce time-out. Clark knocked home a point to give Commerce another game point, and this time Essix pounded home the game winner.

Kennedale, with their backs against the wall, came out firing a built a 9-3 lead. The Tigers stormed back and tied the game at 22-22, and again at 23-23 but couldn’t pull off the comeback.

Commerce again came out in a deficit falling behind 7-4 but Essix and Massey punched home kills, Teal Martin served up an ace and Essix got another kill to put the Lady Tigers ahead. The teams traded points up to 16-16 and then Commerce’s big hammers started pounding the ball with Essix, Massey and Clark drilling kills, a huge block from Kaci Harrison that put Commerce ahead 21-17. The Lady Tigers kept up the heat in rolling to the 25-18 win.

Lady Tigers fall to Argyle

PRINCETON — The Commerce Lady Tigers lost to the Argyle Lady Eagles in the Class 3A volleyball regional quarterfinals on Monday night, 25-16, 25-19, 27-25.

The Lady Tigers, finishing with a record of 37-6, took a 6-4 lead in the first game on a block by senior Danielle Essix. But the Lady Eagles, 27-12, broke the serve and picked up straight points behind the serves of Blair O’Brien for a 12-6 Argyle lead. Argyle pushed the lead to game point at 24-12. A Commerce kill from Stephanie Hall and two from Essix helped the Lady Tigers pull to within 24-16 but Argyle knocked in the game-winner at 25-16.

Argyle jumped ahead 5-0 in the second set but Commerce rallied back with an ace by Chaney Moreland, a block by Raven Massey and a kill by Kayla Clark as Commerce forged a 9-9 tie. Commerce took 11-10 and 13-12 leads but couldn’t keep the momentum, giving the ball back each time on service errors. And Argyle was able to build a 20-15 lead. Commerce closed to 22-19 but Argyle took the game, 25-19.

In the third set, the Lady Tigers jumped on top 6-3 with a Teal Martin kill. But again service errors did in the Lady Tigers as they gave up six points on unforced errors. Argyle went ahead 18-14 prompting a Commerce timeout. The Lady Tigers came out firing with Massey, and Clark knocking down back-to-back kills. But a service error gave the ball back. An Essix block led Commerce into a 21-21 tie. Essix kills again tied it at 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24. Commerce had a chance to get game point but served a net ball, putting Argyle up 25-24. Massey knocked the ball home on a kill to tie it 25-25 but again a service error gave Argyle the lead and the Lady Eagles were able to knock the ball home for the win.

Commerce finished the season as district, bi-district and area champions.

Argyle advances to the regional semifinals to face Pleasant Grove.



Massey named District Defensive Player of the Year

Commerce sophomore Raven Massey was named 10-3A District Defensive Player of the Year while senior teammates Kayla Clark and Danielle Essix were named First Team All District.

In addition, Caitlin Yoakum and Chaney Moreland were named to the Second Team All-District Team and Stephanie Hall, Teal Martin and Morgan Morrison are Honorable Mention.

While Commerce won the district, the team members only received one of the 8 top awards.

Coach of the Year also went to district runnerup Paris, which lost to Commerce 3 times. Commerce's coach, Kelsey Hall, did not recieve Coach of the Year. That award was given to the coach from Paris High School. Even though Commerce beat Paris 3 times this season,

Four girls from the 3rd 4th and 5th place team recieved top awards. Van Alstyne placed 5 girls on the all district teams, North Lamar placed 3 and Bonham placed 3 girls on the all district teams while Commerce placed 2.

“Though the district meeting results do not show it, the girls from Commerce deserved more then what they got. I nominated each girl for what I thought they deserved,” Coach Hall said. “I want my girls to know that I am very proud of thier accomplishments and everything they acheived this year, both out of district and in district. The team from 2009 set or tied four records this year. They were the fastest to 20, 30 and 35 wins. They won the most games in school history with 37. Set the record for fewest loses with 6. They also won the district championship for the first time in 12 years, and went to the Regional Quarterfinal game for the second time out of 3 years and the third time in school history.”

Defensive Player of the Year

Raven Massey

First Team All District

Kayla Clark

Danielle Essix

Second Team All District

Caitlin Yoakum

Chaney Moreland

Honorable Mention

Stephanie Hall

Teal Martin

Morgan Morrison

Academic All District

The following girls maintained a 90+ average during the volleyball season:

Kayla Clark

Danielle Essix

Caitlin Yoakum

Tori Beller

Stephanie Hall

Morgan Morrison

Chaney Moreland

Kaci Harrison

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