Allen's volleyball team has lost twice since the season opened in August. Both teams that beat the Eagles are still playing, and one of them stands between Allen and the state tournament on Tuesday.
The Eagles (40-2) and McKinney Boyd (31-7) play for the 6A Division I Region I title Tuesday in Garland, with first serve at 6 p.m. at the Curtis Culwell Center, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's pairings show. Boyd won a 2-1 tournament match against Allen on Aug. 15. Two weeks later, Duncanville beat Allen 2-0 at another tournament, Allen's MaxPreps results show.
Allen has not lost since. Its winning streak reached 18 matches with Friday's sweep of V.R. Eaton, MaxPreps reported.
One dropped set in district play
The Eagles went 12-0 in District 6-6A and lost one set across those 12 matches. That set came in a 3-1 home win over Boyd on Sept. 25. Allen beat the Broncos again, 3-0, at Boyd on Oct. 20. Every other district match was a sweep.
Allen's nondistrict schedule included early wins over several playoff teams. The Eagles beat Byron Nelson, Southlake Carroll, Coppell and Hebron in mid-August tournament play, then won 3-2 at Hebron on Aug. 25. Hebron and Byron Nelson both later lost to Boyd in the playoffs.
In the MaxPreps rankings, Allen sits at No. 1 in the state and No. 4 in the country. Boyd is No. 4 in Texas.
A quick run through the region
The playoff run has followed the district pattern. Flower Mound took the opening set 25-21 in the Oct. 29 bi-district match before Allen won the next three 25-16, 25-16 and 26-24.
The Eagles have not lost a set since. They swept Plano West 25-17, 25-12, 25-20 on Nov. 3 at Frisco Emerson, then beat V.R. Eaton 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 on Friday at Hebron High School in the regional semifinals.
Boyd took a different route to the same place. The Broncos needed five sets to get past Hebron in the first round and lost the first set to Byron Nelson on Friday before winning in four.
