This season’s top storylines include a handful of Austin-area teams thinking about titles<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about how there\u2019s not going to be a single game that\u2019s going to be light or we\u2019ll be able to take off,\u201d said East View coach Sydney Huck, who has led the Patriots to the Class 5A playoffs the last three years. \u201cWe have to be locked in every match. \u2026 But I also think it\u2019s kind of lighting a fire under these athletes to try and prove something because we know going in that we\u2019re going to be the underdogs in every match. We\u2019re ready for the challenge and ready to prove we\u2019re capable of being in the (playoff) talks, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Coaches brace for new, tougher districts<\/p>\n
Those coaches who spoke to the American-Statesman are anticipating roster depth and the high quality of all the district teams as the main differences between Class 5A and Class 6A. Most 5A schools have an enrollment of less than 2,000, while the majority of 6A schools have more than 2,500. And even teams at the bottom of the district standings in 6A are still likely to be a threat on any given night.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost 6A schools have an opportunity to stack their roster and have teams of 18 with plenty of (6-foot-4) players,\u201d Huck said. \u201cMy tallest kid is 5-10, which is just what we have going into 6A. But our kids are ready to compete with what we have.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
In District 24-6A, which also includes\u00a0Hutto, Vandegrift and Vista Ridge, something will have to give. Six of the seven teams made the playoffs last fall, and the one that didn\u2019t, Hutto, has a lot of returning experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Changes for\u00a02025 state champion Cedar Park<\/p>\n
Cedar Park won the Class 5A Division II state championship last year, but the\u00a0Timberwolves are almost in a fresh start after graduating seven of their top eight players and former coach Lori McLaughlin moving districts to focus on teaching. New coach John Henze, who was Cedar Park\u2019s lead assistant last year, said he doesn\u2019t anticipate any changes in the way the Timberwolves will prepare in 6A.<\/p>\n
And he noted the biggest difference may only be realized in late October. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur district in the playoffs goes up against some pretty big schools, and it will look a lot different for (those moving up who qualify) just with the level of competition come postseason,\u201d Henze said.<\/p>\n
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Hays already prepared for tougher path<\/p>\n
Every program and situation is different, though. Hays arguably may have just as good a shot to make the postseason in its new 6A district as it did playing in a tough 5A district the last two years.\u00a0And Goode noted the Austin area is so loaded with talent that teams and coaches are used to facing good teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s hard to distinguish (between 5A and 6A),\u201d she said. \u201cWe always load our (non-district schedule) with difficult teams and go to the best tournaments we can. The teams in our district are all good, but they\u2019re also teams we\u2019re familiar with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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There are a record 21 Central Texas teams in 6A this two-year cycle. And for those new to it, the experience has arrived. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ready for district already,\u201d Goode said with a laugh. \u201cWe want to go get it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"East View Patriots head coach Sydney Huck reacts in celebration when her team wins the third set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,29134,101703,2291,2292,1227,20489,10713],"class_list":["post-402484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-cedar-park-timberwolves","tag-hays-hawks","tag-high-school-sports","tag-high-school-volleyball","tag-high-schools","tag-rouse-raiders","tag-uil-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}