Sports

After losing a tight matchup against Krum two weeks ago, the Graham High School fall tennis team responded with a 11-8 win over Lake Worth last Saturday, Aug. 25.

Head coach Matt Birdwell saw several of his athletes record wins in the match while having their best matches of the young season.

“What stands out most from this match was the play of our girls,” Birdwell said. “The girls went 8-1 Saturday and have been competitive in almost every match we have played this year.”

The Bryson Cowboys will get a short week before preparing for their season-opening game Thursday.

Head coach Jason Briles and the Cowboys are set to face Waco Methodist Children’s Home in a neutral site matchup to kick off the 2018 season.

Bryson hosted a three-team scrimmage Friday against Rule and Azle Christian to get in one final tuneup before facing a talented Bulldogs team.

Graham was more than happy to pull out an exhilarating five-set victory at home Friday evening.

The Lady Blues were also exhausted.

“I told my girls after the win, that was the best team-play we have had this season,” said Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk. “We needed everyone on our team tonight and we were able to get it done.”

Graham (13-4) needed every bit of that effort to hold off a very-good Brownwood team in a (22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14) thriller in a match which lasted over two hours.

Graham’s final scrimmage against Glen Rose on Thursday showed this year’s team has the pieces to surprise a few people.

The Steers first-team offense moved the ball fairly easily throughout the evening, scoring twice in the 12-minute live quarter. Although the Lions were able to score three times, head coach Kenny Davidson said playing such quality teams will only make his young squad stronger.

After impressing at their own Lu Allen Tournament over the weekend, Graham entered Tuesday night’s game against Class 3A Breckenridge with a lot of momentum.

The Lady Blues carried that fuel to spark another dominant (25-12, 25-13, 25-18) road sweep to earn their 12th win already, just four weeks into the season. To make the feat even more remarkable, 11 of the 15 teams Graham has played, qualified for the playoffs in 2017.

While head coach Marci Faulk knows her team has started the season well, there is room for improvement.

Everything is beginning to come together for the Lady Blues volleyball team.

The team showed what it can really do by winning the Division I consolation championship Saturday at the 15th annual Lu Allen Tournament. Head coach Marci Faulk’s squad won 6 of its 7 games in the tournament to improve to an impressive 11-4 on the young season.

Although Krum left Graham with a 11-8 victory on Thursday night, the overall match was much tighter than what the final score suggests.

The Graham High School tennis team pushed the Bobcats in nearly every game, as two of the sets were decided in super tiebreakers.

The girls doubles team of Grace Miller and Ashley Villalva nabbed a victory for Graham, fighting off Krum, 8-3.

Hailey Armstrong gave her team a point by defeating Krum’s Lilly Glasschroeder 8-3 while Aimee McShan won her set handily 8-0.

Paige Hauger’s team has already shown it can hang with the much bigger schools.

Newcastle, the lone Class 1A team to compete in the Lu Allen Tournament over the weekend, earned just one win in the two days, but took several teams to a final set. 

The Ladycats only win of the tournament came against Class 2A Archer City, who appeared in the state tournament a season ago. 

Newcastle hung with Jim Ned in its third game of the day but fell in three sets (15-25, 25-22 and 19-25). 

There’s no question Graham ranks among the best programs in Texas high school football.

In the last 10 years, the Steers have made the semifinals in half of those seasons. After losing a total of 27 players off last year’s 14-1 state semifinal team to graduation, there will be a few question marks on offense to this new-look team.

“The 2009 team and the 2012-2014, 2017 teams we have had really set the bar for this program,” said Steers head coach Kenny Davidson. “They have shown that Graham can get to the playoffs and make a run from there.”

Celeste Aguirre ripped a team-high 6 kills in Tuesday’s 3-0, (25-6, 25-20 and 25-15) sweep of Class 5A Wichita Falls Old High at Graham High School gym.

Coming off an impressive weekend at the Shallowater Tournament, the Lady Blues continue to grow in the early part of the schedule.

Head coach Marci Faulk admits her young team has come a long way from the end of the season a year ago to now.