Deer Park upsets Clear Creek

LEAGUE CITY — Lady Wildcats volleyball coach Scott Simonds shook his head in frustration. A little better serving, blocking, hitting, defense or anything really could have led to a different result.

Instead, Clear Creek could not harness its superior talent against a scrappy Deer Park team and let the match slip away. Literally.

The Lady Wildcats blew seven-point leads in the first two games and struggled to make clutch plays when it mattered most as the Lady Deer upset Clear Creek at home Monday night in straight sets, 32-30, 26-24 and 25-23.

“We could have — we should have — beaten that team,” Simonds said. “We’ve beaten more talented, athletic and taller teams. I mean Deer Park was scrappy and really good defensively, but just a little bit better in any facet of the game and we could (have) won.”

Creek (15-9) appeared it would cruise to victory — like it was supposed to — in Game 1. Rachel Hobaugh’s serve and Ashley Smith’s kill set Creek out to a 19-11 lead.

But sloppy play, perhaps ignited by overconfidence, let Deer Park back in the game. After taking the eight-point lead, the Lady Wildcats miss-hit four serves. They let three easy balls fall for Lady Deer points. They got called for three penalties.

In all, Creek committed eight unforced errors. The players seemed to never recover.

Despite having game point four times in an epic back-and-forth battle, the Lady Wildcats could not close out the set.

“This is a team where players’ hearts are bigger than their bodies,” Lady Deer coach Gay Sabatell said. “Coming here and beating a team like Creek — my goodness.”

Creek took a 17-10 lead again in Game 2. This time, the Deer Park defense took over.

Every time the Lady Wildcats appeared to have a point, one Lady Deer player would somehow make a spectacular dig.

On one long exchange between the two teams, Shelby Bridges went all the way into the stands to save a play. Deer Park ultimately got the point.

The ability to thwart points and extend rallies ultimately got to Creek players. As their spikes came up empty, shoulders began to drop.

“They out-defended us,” Simonds said. “And defense is something that we take pride in and we do better than most teams.”

The Lady Wildcats still competed in Game 3, but the momentum garnered by Deer Park lingered. The Lady Deer used a solid serve to take Creek out of its offense and smartly hit the ball.

Despite a height advantage, the Lady Wildcats managed just three total blocks.

Creek tied the final game at 23-23, but Deer Park reeled off the next two points on simple tips and another Creek mistake.

“We have to find other ways to win,” Sabatell said. “So we play smart, play great defense and try to take teams out of their offense with our serve.”

Against Creek, it worked. It also was effective against Clear Lake, the District 24-5A favorite, and Dickinson.

Hobaugh led Creek with 15 digs, while Smith added 13. Ellen Shoemaker had a great match — and kept Creek in Game 3 — with 10 kills. Natalie Piznar had 16 digs, while Courtney Richardson dished out 33 assists.

The loss served as a lesson for Creek. Despite all the preseason success, talent or past results don’t guarantee anything on the court.

“The best thing about this game is that it came before district,” Simonds said. “When the end of the year comes, this one won’t matter. What’s important is that we learn that on any given night, any team can beat us.”