The Galveston County Daily News

Clear Creek Wildcats (28-12) vs. Fort Bend Dulles (30-14)

• Time/place: 6:30 p.m. at Dawson High School

• Key to the game: The question for the Lady Wildcats all year has been defense and back-row passing. When Creek makes a good first pass, it sets up their big hitters — Madeline Gaffney, Amanda Watson, Rachel Hobaugh and Cherish Krohn, who are some of the best in the region. The resurgence of Krohn on defense, along with Natalie Piznar, has made Creek’s recent surge possible. They’ll need to continue to advance.

• Statistically speaking: Each of the last five Region III title games has included at least one of these teams, making this the marquee first-round matchup. Creek, of course, is the defending champion, while the Lady Vikings reached the finals in 2004 and 2006.

• Peaking at the right time: Last week, Creek beat Clear Lake in straight sets in Lake for its first win over a ranked opponent since September. Coach Scott Simonds called it the team’s best game of the year and said the girls finally started to jell. The Lady Wildcats followed up with a good performance against Cy Woods in the playoff warm-up but lost in a five-game heartbreaker.

• Mohl’s prediction: The Lady Wildcats finally win a match with five games, 3-2, over the District 23-5A co-champs. Creek has lost five straight matches that went five games.

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Friendswood (37-6) vs. Rosenberg Terry (17-16)

• Time/place: 7 p.m. at Stafford High School

• Key to the game: Friendswood simply needs to stay focused and not get ahead of itself. The Lady Mustangs have a huge talent advantage in this one. There’s a reason they are 37-6 and ranked No. 4 in the state.

• Statistically speaking: The Lady Mustangs dropped their first match in seven weeks against Clear Lake on Friday. Not much should be made of the loss, since Lake is a 5A team coming off an embarrassing straight set loss to Creek at home. Friendswood should be just fine.

• Senior-less: Coach Jerry Linch only starts one senior on the court, and just two others see playing time. It should be interesting to see if Linch turns to his seniors in the playoffs, or if he continues to rely on a very talented young core.

• Mohl’s prediction: Friendswood easily gets by Terry in straight sets. Don’t expect this one to be close.

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Santa Fe (35-5) vs. Lamar Consolidated (13-9)

• Time/place: 8 p.m. at Hightower High School

• Key to the game: Santa Fe cannot let history repeat itself. Last year, the Lady Indians got upset in the first round despite having a talent advantage. Coach Anna Marie Milligan said the team got too far ahead of itself and did not focus on the task at hand. Santa Fe just needs to concentrate on the bi-district game.

• Statistically speaking: The Lady Indians have won a school-record 35 games this season. They’ll be looking to add to that total and get back to the area round.

• No warm-up necessary: Because of University Interscholastic League rules, Santa Fe did not play a playoff warm-up. The UIL only permits a certain number of nondistrict games a season, and since the Lady Indians already had reached that threshold with a heavy preseason schedule, they could not play. Milligan said she planned this way and practiced her team hard last week.

• Mohl’s prediction: The Lady Indians come out motivated and get redemption for last year’s surprising loss in the first round. They win, 3-1.