College Park Falls in Five-Set Battle at Area Championship

The Woodlands Student Center
12 hours ago
2 min read

Season ends with pride as Cavaliers push top-ranked Tomball to the limit

Athletics - Volleyball

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 – 8:30pm

HOUSTON, TEXAS – The College Park High School Cavaliers’ 2025 volleyball season came to an emotional close Tuesday night in an electric Klein Cain High School gym, where they battled the Tomball Cougars through five hard-fought sets in the UIL 6A Area Championship. The final score — Tomball 3, College Park 2 — told only part of the story.

*College Park HS 2025-26 Varsity Volleyball Team*

Set by set, the match unfolded like a tug-of-war: 17–25, 34–32, 20–25, 26–24, 11–15. Each frame after the first was decided by five points or fewer. The Cavaliers clawed their way back multiple times, winning the second and fourth sets before Tomball held on late to advance.

The atmosphere inside Klein Cain was electric. Cheerleaders from both schools made the trip, filling opposite ends of the gym — Tomball fans in red and white on one side, College Park supporters in blue and white, on the other. Every rally drew cheers and gasps, the kind of playoff environment players dream of.

The second set became the match’s defining moment — a marathon that stretched to 34–32. In volleyball, a team must win by at least two points, so play continued long past the standard 25-point mark. Both teams fought off multiple set points, trading side-outs and momentum in what Coach Candice Collins Gibson later called “one of those sets that show what playoff volleyball is all about.”

Coach Gibson praised her players’ poise: “They learned to trust themselves. We had to find what worked and handle high expectations, and these girls did that with class and fight.”

The Cavaliers’ roster featured several seniors who helped anchor the program: AnneMarie Haley, Reese Ellen, Maci Fralix, Caroline Prihoda, Ava Rodriguez and Lacy Tinnell. For each of them, Tuesday’s match was their final high school appearance — and one that ended with pride, not regret.

During her post-game comments, Head Coach Candice Collins Gibson said she was “extremely proud of the girls for fighting” and that the match “lived up to its hype.” She noted the team “fought point for point” and “gave everything we had,” a reflection of how tightly bonded this group became over the season.

The Cavaliers finished 31–12 overall and 13–3 in district play, securing second place in District 13-6A and another trip to the UIL state tournament. Though their playoff journey ended earlier than they hoped, their performance against a 39-win Tomball squad showed that College Park belongs among Texas’ elite programs.

As the team packed up amid applause from both sides of the gym, the scoreboard showed the final numbers — but the season’s true story was written in the effort, unity, and emotion of that five-set fight.