PEARLAND — The 2015 Adidas Texas Volleyball Invitational left no question that its reputation as the best high school volleyball tournament in the nation holds true after three days of fierce competition. The best of the best from across the state converged on the City of Pearland starting on Wednesday, August 12th booking all hotels full and filling restaurants up to capacity during their three-night stay in Pearland.

The teams all united as one before the tournament started for “Opening Ceremonies” at Pearland High School. At that time, the tournament director, John Turner, presented to the Pearland ISD Education Foundation a check donation in the amount of $17,000.00. The sales were made in part by all the participants buying t-shirts and 100% of all the sales went to the foundation.

On Thursday, the three local teams all found their way to the Gold Bracket to advance in tournament play. The Pearland Lady Oilers were able to secure a spot and advance to the Sweet 16 by defeating Colleyville Heritage 25-19, 25-23. The Lady Oilers were led by Brooke Botkin with 23 kills and 12 digs. Caroline Shecterle with 25 assists and 3 aces. Sam Costello with 6 blocks and 6 kills. Amanda Chapa with 31 digs and 2 aces. Hannah Ofczarzak with 14 kills and 3 blocks.

Pearland then took on a very solid Hebron team and lost their bid to make it to the Elite 8. The scores were 12-25, 25-18, 14-25. The loss put the Oilers in to the 9th Place Bracket.

They faced a 5A powerhouse in Prosper and never let up taking the match to them and dominating the match by the scores of 25-15, 25-13. The Lady Oilers were once again led by Brooke Botkin with 18 kills; Amanda Chapa with 24 digs and 2 aces; Caroline Shecterle with 24 assists and 2 aces; 14 digs. Sam Costello with 13 kills and 3 blocks.

After beating Prosper, the Pearland faced the team ranked No. 1 in the state coming into the tournament – Lovejoy. Needless to say, the Lady Oilers proved they are one of the elite teams in the state by playing a tight match. The scores were 25-19, 25-23. The Oilers were led by Brooke Botkin with 23 kills and 4 aces. Hannah Ofczarzak had 11 kills; Sam Costello had 6 kills and 3 blocks.

Pearland won their first three matches of the tournament with wins over Waller (25-12, 25-19), Vidor (25-8, 25-7), and Northwest (25-19, 25-12)

Friendswood Lady Mustangs

The Friendswood Lady Mustangs finished 35th out of 88 teams at the Pearland volleyball tournament.

Friendswood beat Aledo (25-18, 26-24), Trinity Christian Academy (23-25, 25-22, 25-23), Alamo Heights (25-19, 27-25) and Memorial (25-21, 25-11).

The Lady 'Stangs dropped games to San Antonio Churchhill (26-16, 25-17) Concordia Lutheran (23-25, 25-18, 25-18) and Fort Bend Austin (25-19, 18-25, 25-16) in the Silver Bracket.

Dawson Lady Eagles

The Dawson Lady Eagles placed 41st out of 88 teams at the Pearland tournament.

Dawson opened with two wins over Houston Episcopal (25-17, 19-25, 25-16) and Deer Park (26-24, 25-20) before falling to Flower Mound (25-21, 21-25, 25-23) and Boswell (25-20, 25-19).

The Lady Eagles closed out the tournament with a pair of wins over Northwest (25-22, 25-21) and Trinity Christian (25-22, 28-26) in the Silver Bracket.