Lady Charger Catherine Mazurek hits a return shot during Boerne Champion’s district win over Clemens. Photo by Mike Reeder

The Boerne Samuel V. Champion volleyball team entered the week with a 1-1 record in district play and the sure knowledge that every match will be a battle from here on out.

The Lady Chargers hosted Steele Tuesday night after the View had gone to press and will tangle with Tivy at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Kerrville. Boerne will hit the road again Tuesday for a 7 p.m. match at Seguin.

Much has been said about how tough the new District 27-4A is in football, but the league’s volleyball lineup is formidable as well. The district includes four teams ranked among the Top 10 class 4A and 5A squads in the greater San Antonio region, a group that does not include the unranked Lady Chargers.

“Hopefully we can take down a couple of those and get ranked ourselves,” Champion Head Volleyball Coach Troy Errington said last week, after his team swept Clemens at home. “Who knows?”

Playoffs have been expanded this season to include four teams from each Class 4A district. Even though that’s one more playoff team than before, it still means that three good 27-4A programs will find themselves on the outside looking in when the post-season rolls around.

Errington knows it will take his team’s best effort every night to stay in the playoff hunt.

“There aren’t any nights off any more in this district, where you know you’re going to get the win,” Errington said “They’re all big. You’ve got to come ready to play every night or you’re going to be in trouble.”

The Lady Chargers showed they were ready to play against Clemens, taking the first two games by scores of 25-17 and 25-21.

Boerne had also jumped out to a two-game lead in its opening district match against Canyon, only to lose the next three straight.

This time, the Lady Chargers refused to let their opponent off the mat, closing out the last game and the match 25-13.

“Every other time when we went up by two we let go,” junior Sarah Wallace said. “We were like we’ve got this in the bag, so today we were really determined to win big and not let them get a lead or anything.”

That same tough approach will be needed every week if the Lady Chargers plan to play beyond district.