Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 75F. SSE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 75F. SSE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Burglars may have stolen personal items and equipment from Seguin’s volleyball team on Friday, but they didn’t take the athletes’ spirit or drive, as the team brought home a trophy from the Westwood Tournament on Saturday.

The Lady Matadors were taking a break from tournament play to eat an early dinner at a restaurant in Austin on Friday and when they finished, they found their vans were broken into and personal items and team equipment gone.

“Anytime anyone has been burglarized, it leaves you with a bad taste in your stomach,” Seguin head volleyball coach Ashley Farris said. “You feel violated. But our kids and our parents handled it so well. We had a lot of grace and a lot of patience and a ton of support from our parents.”

Presented with the option to call it quits and come back home, the athletes and their parents made the decision to complete the tournament, where they were set to play on Saturday in the bronze bracket.

The Lady Mats were 1-5 heading into the final day. They were 0-3 on Thursday and 1-2 on Friday. But Saturday was a whole different day and they came out swinging, going undefeated (3-0) and winning their bracket.

“Their faces when we won was like we won the national championship,” Farris said. “They were so loud, cheering, going crazy and it was a great thing to be a part of.”

One of the many highlights of the tournament, Farris said, came from Seguin’s game against Burton. The Lady Mats dropped the first game to Burton. In the second, Seguin trailed most of the game until the girls tied with the Panthers at 22 apiece. Burton once again took the lead to 24-23 before Seguin rose above and finished with a 26-24 win, and the subsequent game, 25-10.

“That was the break through we really needed. We finished it,” Farris said. “It was the break through we needed to build confidence and to believe in each other and in this new system we’re all getting used to with new expectations. I’m just so proud of them for that.”

But getting there wasn’t easy. The girls had lost the basic essentials needed to play, and that’s where parents and the community stepped in, Seguin Matador Sports Booster President Cathy Beicker said.

The athletic secretary opened the locker room for parents to collect items like old uniforms and shoes for the team and drove them to Austin, while others gathered the rest, Beicker said.

“Those people also stepped up in a big way,” she said. “I felt like everybody stepped in to help and I don’t think it is going to stop. It’s such a good feeling for those girls to know they are not alone, they have a whole town behind them.”

The team faced a challenge and it helped to unite the squad, Farris said.

“It brought us closer together as a program, as a family,” she said. “When something like this happens to you, you can let it affect you negatively or you can turn it around and know that everything is going to be OK. First and foremost, we’re all safe and healthy, so we’re not going to let this get in our way of doing what we love and what we are supposed to do.”

The team’s word for the season is “Believe” and that’s what they did, Farris said. They believed in each other, in their coach and family. They then used those emotions felt by Friday’s events to fuel them to the wins on Saturday, Farris said.

“The girls were upset and they were mad and they had every right to be and I think they used those emotions that following day,” she said. “They just did a really good job of turning it into such a positive thing. I’m so proud of them for that.”

While the team has temporary replacements, the hunt is on to get new equipment, uniforms, socks, knee pads, shoes and other items, and the community isn’t far behind in helping the athletes, Beicker said.

Not long after word spread about the burglary, a friend approached Beicker with a donation for the team. The next day, more people began reaching out and donating to replace the stolen items, and Beicker said she is not surprised.

“As of (Sunday) night, we’ve got $1,240 donated to the volleyball team,” Beicker said. “The community just immediately stepped up and I still have people wanting to send money to help. I’m just so proud of our community, but they always do this. This is not just a one time thing. If you ask people in this community to help someone else, they do it in Seguin.”

Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com .

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