Santa Gertrudis Kingsville Academy practices in Driscoll in preparation for their playoff game against eighth ranked Shiner this past Tuesday. The Lady Pride were ranked sixth in the state and had recently won their fourth consecutive District 31-A championship with an unblemished 10-0 record. Overall, Academy is 34-6. Santa Gertrudis Kingsville Academy’s varsity volleyball team is not a group you want to take lightly.

That’s because they went 34-6 overall this season, won the District 31-A title for the fourth consecutive time (with a 10-0 division record) and are currently ranked sixth in the state.

The Lady Pride were scheduled to take on eighth ranked Shiner at Beeville this past Tuesday.

On this year’s squad are Carla Noel, Dyanna Acuna, Sarah Schuenemann, Bailey Cernosek, Miranda Gonzalez, Lauren Prukop, Ashley Flores, Kacee Ritter, Callee Borchardt, Ashley Ritter and Ashley Perez.

Going into Tuesday’s game, Ritter was ranked number one in Texas in statistical aces and fourteenth in the nation including high schools from the 1A to the 5A ranks.

Prukop was 37th in the state in kills averaging 4.7 per game. Flores recently caught the attention on Coastal Bend College (Beeville) coaches.

“This season has exceeded our expectations as these girls have stepped up to the challenges we had on our schedule and played extremely well,” Head Coach Hector Gonzalez said. “I am very proud of them.”

The Lady Pride’s consistent success these past four years have come from a quartet of seniors who have more than held their own in that span.

“The seniors on this year’s team are the same group of girls who went to regionals as freshmen,” Gonzalez said. “Since then they have been able to play at a higher level with some big time schools, so now as seniors they are able to compete and win so we are very blessed with that.”

Academy’s depth has allowed the team to succeed even while some key players had to briefly sit out for a stretch because of injury.

“That is fantastic for us because if we have four quality hitters, per say, and one of them is not on during a particular game then we can go to one of the other three,” Gonzalez said.

“In our recent game against George West, we were all on and beat them 25-11, 26-24 and 25-14 which I thought was very good because George West is also known to go as far as two and three rounds into the playoffs. So it is a tremendous blessing to have that many quality hitters.”