Bain, Brown lead Louise's district honors
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

AMBER BAIN

Louise's varsity volleyball team earned eight spots on the All-District 28-A teams.

Amber Bain and Katie Brown led the Lady Hornets with all-district selections.

Bain was named the district MVP and Brown was named newcomer of the year.

A sophomore, Bain is Louise's most improved player along with potentially its biggest surprise. She finished the year with a team-high 629 kills and 188 blocks. Bain also had 25 digs and 21 aces.

Louise's head coach, Bryan Branch, said he was hoping Bain would mature into a good player, but never expected her to dominate the net.

It was almost a month before district play when he realized how much Bain would impact his team.

"I can remember back when we were at the Round Top Tournament," Branch said. "We were playing Sealy for the second time and it just clicked. That match, she became the Amber Bain that played the rest of the year. She figured out her body and how to get in position and how to hit the ball.

"From that point on, she was lights out. She really hammered the ball down people's throats. She's a very even-keeled person so she doesn't get rattled. She just keeps on swinging and you can never tell if Amber is upset or if she's happy. She's very even-keeled, which is a good quality to have in an athlete."

KATIE BROWN

Brown came onto the varsity team with high expectations. After strong performances for Louise's junior high volleyball team, Brown met the challenge of competing on the varsity level as a freshman with great success.

She finished the season with 104 kills, 17 digs and 15 aces. What Brown was really known for, however, was her defense. She had 128 total blocks on the year.

Branch said possibly her greatest match came when Louise lost in the third round of the playoffs.

"I thought Katie had a great match against Shiner," Branch said. "Her hitting has kind of struggled, but she's always been a good blocker. She plays really good defense on the net. Against Shiner, she had some really big hits and that's encouraging for next year."

First-team honors went to seniors Sarah Williamson and Lauren Gresham and sophomore Kirsten Machicek.

Williamson led the Lady Hornets throughout the season emotionally and with her strong play at the net. She even gave Bain a push for district MVP.

"They were both nominated for MVP and then the coaches voted for Amber," Branch said. "I think Sarah could have equally gotten it and it would have been just as justified. Their stats were pretty even."

Williamson finished the season with 602 kills, 80 digs, 18 blocks and a team-high 29 aces.

"Sarah had a great senior year," Branch said. "Throughout the whole time, she was kind of the one who would pick people up. The younger kids kind of turned to Sarah for her approval, which meant a lot to them, I could tell.

"Sarah did a good job of never getting upset with the young kids or making them feel like they didn't deserve to be there. She really stepped up and was a real good leader this year."

Machicek made first team as setter. She finished the season with 1,312 assists, 12 kills, 55 digs and 18 aces.

Gresham, Louise's libero, played great defense all year. She made 175 digs playing on the back row.

Branch said he expected more out of Gresham and Machicek this season than most girls and they both met his expectations.

"Kirsten is, I think, by far the best setter in our district," Branch said. "I'm on her pretty good. Amber and Sarah can hit the ball in the net and I won't say anything to them, but if Kirsten makes a bad set, I'm like, 'Get that ball up.' I expect Kirsten to be a little more perfect than I do for everyone else. It's the same with Lauren, we put a lot of pressure on her. We say, 'Lauren, you have to dig them up.' I feel like she did a good job with that.

"Those two, I put pressure on and I didn't give them as much leeway as far as making mistakes as I did the others. It's a testament to their character that they handled it. They know that is their role and that's part of it."

Junior Kierra Thornton, sophomore Gabby Foster and freshman Kelsi Kutac each made the all-district second team.

Thornton finished the season with 72 digs, 21 kills and 15 aces. Foster made 34 kills on the year along with 78 digs and 26 aces. Kutac played a lot of back-row defense and made 80 digs.

"Those three are underclassmen," Branch said. "We're going to miss Sarah and Lauren next year and we're going to have to fill that void with somebody. Every day, they got a lot better.

"Kelsi started on JV and we moved her up. She had a fantastic match against Shiner. Gabby and Kierra are so fast. They can get to a lot of balls and they hustle and play hard. They just saved us on numerous occasions that we would have lost some games if we didn't have them."