Lady Apaches season ends rollercoaster in bi-district

The Gonzales Lady Apaches had an early playoff exit in their three set loss (10-25, 14-25, 11-25) to the third-ranked San Antonio Davenport Lady Wolves Monday, Oct. 31.

The Lady Apaches played toe-to-toe with the No. 3 team in the state, trailing by as little as six points in the last two sets.

Gonzales head volleyball coach Erin Miller was proud of her team fighting hard against a really good SA Davenport team.

“Hopefully it gave my underclassmen a little taste of this feeling and that they yearn for it for the next few years, so that we can get here, show up, show them what Gonzales really has to offer,” Miller said.

The Lady Apaches had a rollercoaster of a season, with the team almost having to play a play-in with San Antonio Fox Tech, but San Antonio JFK upset SA Fox Tech on the final day of regular season.

Senior McKenzie Hodges recalls waiting on and then getting the news that the Lady Apaches clinched the final playoff spot in the district

“I sat in bed, waiting for the scores to be released, so that we would know if we would be in the playoffs or not. And whenever I did, I told my dad and he started crying, so it was really sweet,” Hodges said.

The Lady Apaches had to say good bye to four of their seniors that contributed to their 2022 season —Hodges, Kristyn Baker, Maddy York, and Carlee Ramos.

Miller said those four seniors offered a lot “talent” for her first year of the volleyball and their impact will missed.

“It'll be really unfortunate to be losing them this coming season. But I was really glad that we were able to put a good team behind to take them to playoffs for their senior year.”

Baker (154 kills) and Hodges (156 kills) combined for 310 kills for the Lady Apaches for the 2022 seasons and they’ll miss being on the volleyball court.

“I'm glad I got to play with this group of girls. It was a really good season and I'm glad that we did great things for Gonzales,” Hodges said.

Baker said it was bittersweet to make the playoffs in her final year with the Lady Apaches volleyball and was proud to be there to cap off her senior year.

The future is bright for Gonzales volleyball as Miller cannot wait for the next season start.

“I'm super excited to see these girls again, now that they got a taste of what it's like to have this playoff appearance, how they're gonna approach next season with a mindset that hopefully we can take on whoever comes at us,” Miller said.

Miller added the one thing they’ll be working on for next season is the team’s confidence and telling the players they are “capable of winning” and they can hang with the big teams and go far in the playoffs.

--vs SA Davenport STATS--

Kills:

McKenzie Hodges and Kristyn Baker: four kills and Sydney McCray, Alyson Jahns, Kelly Breitschopf, Tara Lester and Macy Sample: one kill

Blocks:

M. Hodges: five blocks

Aces:

M. Hodges: one ace

Assists:

M. Sample: five assists, Maddy York: three assists, T. Lester: two assists, and Hannah Avant: one assists

Digs:

H. Avant: seven digs, M. Sample: six digs, and K. Baker, M. York, and T. Lester: one dig.