Austin High takes opening weekend tourney win

Austin High won the AISD Jason Landers Memorial Volleyball Tournament last weekend in impressive fashion: The Maroons won all their matches without losing a set, USC-bound Riley Malloy slammed 66 kills and Wesley McGinnis produced an historic first set Friday by serving 24 consecutive points in a 25-0 set.

The Maroons (10-0) went 9-0 over the three-day tournament, sweeping Vista Ridge 25-19, 25-18 in the final. McGinnis, Malloy and Maggie McCarroll earned all-tournament honors led by McGinnis, a junior who pulled off nearly the impossible in the opening set against Copperas Cove on Friday with her 24 straight points on serve.

Copperas Cove served first to open the match; the Maroons won that point, sending McGinnis to the service line with a 1-0 lead. Twenty-four straight points later, Austin High took the set 25-0.

“I have never seen anything like that,” Maroons coach Kiley Wood said. “She was serving strong, but they were returning the ball and we had several long rallies and incredible plays, then we realized something special was happening and every point was all out. Our defense was diving and making incredible plays.”

In other area tournament action on opening weekend of the season:

• Wimberley, the No. 1 Class 4A team in the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s state poll, won the 32-team Tex-Fest tournament by going 9-0. The Texans beat defending Class 3A state champion Stockdale 25-14, 25-16 behind Cameron Thames’ six kills and Skylar Herring’s 13 assists then beat Aubrey 25-21, 25-17 in the final.

• Lake Travis made the championship match of the Pearland Tournament, going 6-3 overall and falling to Houston Cypress Springs in the final. Westlake (7-2), Dripping Springs (9-4) and Rouse (5-4) also were in the tournament.

• Johnson lost just once at Garland ISD’s tournament, going 8-1 there; the Jaguars lost just three sets over the weekend and swept Frisco, Montwood, Richardson Pearce, Garland and The Colony.

Bowie went 6-3 and finished fourth at the Jason Landers Invitational while Anderson (5-4), McCallum (5-4), Ann Richards (4-4), LBJ (2-6), Cedar Creek (5-3), Texas School for the Deaf (5-3), Del Valle (4-4), Marble Falls (4-4), Lehman (4-4), Akins (4-4) and LASA (3-5) also competed. … Vandegrift was second to unbeaten LaVernia in the Leander-Georgetown tournament. … New Braunfels beat Justin Northwest to win the Warrior Showcase in Round Rock, and Round Rock edged Liberty Hill for third place. … Cedar Park went 5-3 at the Katy-Cypress ISD Invitational. … Vista Ridge had won eight matches in a row before falling to Austin High in the Jason Landers final. The Rangers are 8-3 with two of their losses to the Maroons and to Cedar Park, which was the Class 5A state runner-up last year.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the names of Montwood and Richardson Pearce high schools.