Hockaday, St. Mark’s Claim SPC Volleyball Championships 

Daisies defend crown after dominant conference run, Lions earn revenge in final

By: Mike Waters

Defending their respective top seeds, Hockaday and St. Mark’s ensured both SPC volleyball titles remained right at home.

Hockaday earned its second straight crown, and 11th overall, by sweeping Houston St. John’s on Nov. 9. Olivia Wayne, who is verbally committed to Duke, hammered 19 kills, including eight in the title-clinching third set, while adding 12 digs and five blocks.

The Daisies (24-19) swept all 11 of their SPC matches, including regular season and playoffs. Hockaday gained experience while playing in a number of early-season tournaments against some of the best teams in the state and nationally.

“I do my best to front-load our schedule and expose our players to very high level volleyball early,” said first-year Hockaday head coach Allison Camp. “I believe it’s crucial to the growth of my players and their long-term volleyball career to put them in front of the best possible teams I can find — which means playing in some of the best tournaments in the country. This allows our team to bond and really find out who we are.”

Meanwhile, St. Mark’s needed five thrilling sets to put away Houston Episcopal for its 14th boys title, avenging a heartbreaking defeat from last season.

The Lions (19-3) played 15 sets in just over 24 hours — winning a pair of five-set matches a day earlier over Fort Worth Country Day and Houston Awty International to advance.

“Everybody just stepped up,” said St. Mark’s coach Darren Teicher. “Consistency was the biggest key for us in this tournament. I wasn’t sure after the five-set matches how much we had left. But I am so very proud of these guys.”

In the decisive fifth set, St. Mark’s never trailed and jumped out to an 11-6 advantage, the largest lead for either team in the match.  After five straight points by the Knights, a Jacob Lobdell kill forged a 13-11 Lions lead. At match point, an Episcopal return sailed wide.

“We remember what it felt like losing to them last year in five sets,” Lobdell said. “We were determined not to repeat that. We left it all out on the floor. We felt we were the better team. We made some mistakes out there, but in the end we won, and that is all that counts.”