Posted: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:38 AM - 9,422 Readers

By: Lorne Chan

A Seguin team in the state volleyball tournament was an impossible idea three years ago, when the Matadors won seven matches all season.

It was highly improbable a week ago, when the Matadors were trailing Dripping Springs two games to none in a second-round match.

With an upset victory against Lake Travis on Saturday, the Matadors are taking their magical run to the state tournament.

Seguin defeated Lake Travis 25-18, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21 in the Class 4A regional final at UTSA Convocation Center, clinching its first trip to the state tournament.

“We don't ever give up,” senior Alex Bothe said. “We always wanted state and always believe in each other.”

Seguin (32-13), in the regional finals for the first time since 1977, was facing a Lake Travis team (46-4) that was the defending regional champion and winner of 31 consecutive matches.

The Matadors were unfazed, going on a 9-0 run in the first game with senior Kelly Koenig serving.

A 6-0 run in the second game with two aces by Bothe during that stretch extended the Seguin advantage. Bothe led the way with team highs of 18 kills and four aces.

“Alex was outstanding,” said senior Marquisha Matthews, who finished with 12 kills and 4.5 blocks. “I don't know where that came from.”

Bothe said she had no idea where her clutch performance came from either. She also provided the match-clinching kill in the fourth game and helped shut down Lake Travis, which featured an Alabama signee (Morgan Hendrix) and a member of the USA Volleyball junior Olympic team (sophomore Amy Neal).

“We didn't consider ourselves the underdogs,” Seguin coach Robin Gerlich said. “Our experience took over. They started four sophomores, and we had five seniors who never came off the floor.”

Seguin's seniors were freshmen in 2006, when the Matadors had a 7-26 record. Gerlich, a 1980 Seguin graduate, took over the next season, and the Matadors reached the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.

But Seguin's biggest moment before Saturday was a second-round comeback against Dripping Springs, fighting off elimination for a 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 26-24, 15-9 victory.

“We thought we were done, but we weren't going to give up,” Matthews said. “Now we're going to state.”