Ballinger Brings Home First Volleyball Playoff Trophy in 56 Years

BRONTE, TX — For the first time since 1970, the Ballinger Lady Cats are playoff champions in volleyball.

Ballinger, which began rebuilding its program five years ago after a 51-year absence, saw its hard work pay off Thursday with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-21 win over Colorado City.

Sophomore Addisyn Hill had the honor of spiking down the final point to set off a celebration in Bronte’s gym.

Ballinger improved to 23-14 and advances to the area round of the Class 2A Division I playoffs, where the Lady Cats will face Seymour (24-13) or Olney (30-10) at a site and time to be determined.

“I feel excited for the girls,” Ballinger head coach Robynn Jones said. “Of course, we give all the glory to the Lord. But they’ve worked for this. They’ve dreamed of it. And for them to see it come to fruition while they’re still seniors, while they’re still in school, it means a lot. And to see all the Ballinger Bearcats travel to Bronte, it means a lot.”

Ballinger’s five seniors — Kyndal Rollwitz, Kyndall Weathers, Jolee Battle, Ava Aguilera and Deesa Drennan — have seen the program build into a playoff champion from a team that won just four matches three years ago.

“We’re just feeling amazing,” Rollwitz said. “It just felt good to make history in so many years, and we’re excited and ready for more also.”

Ballinger raced out to an 11-4 lead in the opening set and cruised to a 25-13 win.

The Lady Cats did it again in the second set with an early lead that was never threatened on the way to a 25-17 victory.

The third set was a bit too close for comfort and tied at 11-11 before Rollwitz and Allie Clemens had back-to-back kills to give Ballinger the lead for good.

Gabriella Escobar then served up a pair of aces to give the Lady Cats an 18-14 lead and help them pull away.

“I think we handled it well,” Rollwitz said of the emotions of their first playoff match. “I think we could’ve killed them a little more, but you know we were kind of nervous for our first playoff game ever, so I think we did pretty great for our first time.”

Jones said she thought her team largely rose to the occasion despite a tight finish.

“For us to handle the nerves, handle the pressure, it was a lot for us,” Jones said. “We came out strong. We kind of let up, and we need to fix that, but we’re looking to be right where we need to be, polishing the skills we need to be at this point of the season.”