Burnet volleyball beats Salado for No. 1 seed, gets Manor New Tech in first round
The Burnet High School volleyball team has a reason to smile after sweeping Salado on Oct. 29 to enter the Class 4A playoffs as the No. 1 team from District 19-4A. Courtesy photo
The saying “Your focus determines your reality” could well explain how the Burnet high school volleyball team beat Salado in three sets Oct. 29 in a match to determine which squad entered the playoffs as District 19-4A’s No. 1 seed. The two squads are co-district champions.
“All day (Oct. 29), people were like, ‘Are they ready?” Lady Dawgs head coach Crystal Shipley said after the match at Georgetown High School. “I said, ‘I hope they are.’ During the (athletics) period, they weren’t goofing around. They were focused. Even (the Salado head) coach said, ‘You came to play today.’ Yes we did.”
Burnet (20-18 overall, 9-1 district) now faces Manor New Tech in a bi-district game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, at Thrall High School, 601 S. Bounds St. in Thrall.
The Salado Lady Eagles (21-17, 9-1) earned a share of the district crown after coming from behind in an Oct. 19 regular season match against Burnet, winning in the final three sets. The two teams split their head-to-head matchups, forcing a third game to determine playoff seeding.
On Oct. 29, the Lady Dawgs made the appropriate plays and ended rallies as quickly as possible to win in three sets, 25-17, 26-24, 26-24. Burnet did not play it safe, a mentality that showed especially during a tight second set.
“They were focused and on a mission,” Shipley said. “I hadn’t seen that side of them for an entire match.”
The squads will go down as co-district champions in the record book, but this win means so much more, Shipley said.
“For them to be able to accomplish a goal like that is so amazing,” she said.