BUDA – Just three weeks on the heels of the Thunder’s tournament title in the varsity edition of the Hill Country Christian School Tournament, the Black & Teal returned to Buda and repeated the trick, capturing the crown at the HCCS JV Tournament on Saturday.


En route to the championship, NBT (16-9) dropped only a single set, defeated cross-town rival New Braunfels Christian Academy, avenged a loss to Veritas Academy, and stretched its winning streak to seven games over a five-day span.


“This team has been building,” head coach Laura Force said.  “We started the season with seven varsity matches, and we weren’t about to let it be for nothing.  That strength of schedule is the thing that built up the resilience in the team to allow us to go on a winning streak now.  It’s not like those were easy wins.  There were some really tough opponents there, but we have just learned how to compete consistently.”


The six victims of the Thunder’s seven-match winning streak are NBCA, Veritas, St. Paul, BACH, Faith Academy, and the Austin Royals twice.


Libero Ava Pizana was the team’s floor leader all week, playing almost every rotation and running a defense that dropped only a single set.


“Of course, everybody contributed,” Force added.  “But nothing else in volleyball happens without the first contact, and she was mostly flawless.”


The Thunder’s victory over NBCA on Friday was its closest match of the tournament.  After the Wildcats took the first set 23-25, the Thunder rebounded for a 25-21 set win to claim the top seed in the pool.  It marked the program’s first-ever win in the rivalry.


Saturday proved to be even more beautiful as the Thunder found themselves in a semifinal matchup against Veritas.  NBT fell to the Defenders in two sets just three weeks ago in the same gym, but Saturday’s match was a different story altogether.  The hard attacks from Lillie Phipps and bullet serves from Kirra Sanborn were too overpowering, and the Thunder were clearly the more improved team after a 25-12, 25-9 rout.


That sent the Homeschool Heroes to the tournament title match, where they had a nearly 60-minute rest awaiting the result of the NBCA and St. Paul duel in the other semifinal match.  When the Cardinals eventually emerged victorious, it was straight into the title match, and the Thunder sought to exploit their edge.


“We thought we might be able to use it to our advantage, and we got confirmation early in Set One,” Force noted.  “We knew they only had eight players and could see that they were tired.


“Not only did we get to rest, but Wes [Belzung, assistant coach] and I got to watch a lot of that [semifinal] match,” Force said. “We figured out that most of their attack was on the second ball and that they tipped over the block a lot.”


The scouting paid off as Pizana was alert to nearly every play the Cardinals attempted.  That kept NBT regularly in-system, allowing everybody on the front line to produce and contribute.  A couple of decisive serve runs by Klaire Belzung and Maddy Lomotey put the Thunder over the top in each set, producing a 25-21, 25-23 win in the tourney’s ultimate match.


The JV tournament title highlighted a spectacular weekend for the entire Thunder volleyball program, as three of the four teams in the tournament brought home some hardware.  The MS-A squad reeled off five straight wins without dropping a set before succumbing to the Austin Royals in the championship match.  The second-place finish marks the best-ever tournament showing for coach Shelly Isler-Williams’ group.


The MS-B team also represented the program well, capturing the Silver Bracket title despite being one of only two B-Teams in the A-team event.  The young Thunderbolts came within three points of a win on three separate occasions on Friday before notching comfortable victories over the Austin Royals and Faith Academy in bracket play.  Coach Whitney Davidson has garnered two trophies in two tournament appearances this year.


“It’s hard to ignore an organization that comes in and performs at every level across the board,” said NBT varsity head coach Chris Valdez. “It’s clear that the volleyball community has taken notice.”