![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Edit-VCA-VB-20-scaled.jpg\")
VCA freshman middle blocker Ceattle Cooper elevates to hit the ball back over the net in the Lady Patriots\u2019 3-0 TAPPS 2A District 2 home win against Muenster Sacred Heart Sept. 29. The Lady Patriots (22-9, 10-2) will face Lubbock Kingdom Prep Academy in the area round of the TAPPS playoffs 6 p.m. Tuesday at Childress High School. Micah McCartney\/WCMessenger<\/p>\n
The Victory Christian Academy Lady Patriots are hoping to take their first steps toward a trip to Waco, as the team prepares for its first match of the 2026 TAPPS 2A postseason. <\/p>\n
After claiming a first-round bye, VCA (22-9, 10-2) will take on Lubbock Kingdom Prep Academy in an area-round 6 p.m. Tuesday at Childress High School.<\/p>\n
The Warriors finished the regular season at 5-8 and earned a first-round bye after finishing in District 1 play behind Lubbock All Saints Episcopal, according to MaxPreps.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve seen on video, [Kingdom Prep] is very solid defensively,\u201d VCA coach Stacey Morales said. \u201cThey don\u2019t give up much easy plays. I did see that they don\u2019t have a lot of hard hitters, but they keep the ball in play and they\u2019re scrappy. They\u2019ve got one girl who can block pretty well, so we have to be smart and move the ball around her.\u201d <\/p>\n
VCA \u2014 the winner of seven state championships during its time competing in the Texas Christian Athletic Fellowship \u2014 has earned three straight trips to the TAPPS playoffs since joining the organization prior to the 2024 season. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always our goal to make the playoffs and see how far we can go,\u201d Morales said. \u201cTo be able to do that three years in a row in a competitive league like TAPPS is an accomplishment. We\u2019ve had some hardships on the team this year, but the girls kept fighting. I think their fight is going to carry us a long way.\u201d <\/p>\n
Morales believes the Lady Patriots\u2019 key to success in their first postseason outing will be attacking from the service line and at the net. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to serve well,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if don\u2019t get an ace, we can at least keep them out of system and make it to where they can\u2019t set up. We also need to have our hitters swing and not be afraid to put it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
VCA suffered a loss in its final district outing, dropping the league title match to Harvest Christian 3-1 at home \u2014 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-14. <\/p>\n
The Lady Patriots are expected to be without the services of reigning Wise County Blocker of the Year Ella McKenzie \u2014 a sophomore middle blocker \u2014 who suffered an ankle injury in the second half of district play. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been hard without McKenzie, but Ceattle [Cooper] has really stepped up and done well,\u201d Morales said. \u201cShe\u2019s only a freshman, but she\u2019s a great defensive player, and does well from the service line. [Sophomore setter] Anderli Stanford\u2019s done well playing six rotations for us, and she\u2019s got a strong hit that\u2019s kind of like a secret weapon. We\u2019re hoping we have a shot to get Ella back on the court if we win our first match.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a win over Kingdom Prep Academy, VCA will face the winner of Red Oak Ovilla Christian and district rival Muenster Sacred Heart in the regional round Saturday. Match details have yet to be released.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VCA freshman middle blocker Ceattle Cooper elevates to hit the ball back over the net in the Lady…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-479095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479095","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=479095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}