GARLAND — This stage has gotten the better of many a volleyball team making its first appearance at the UIL state tournament at the Culwell Center.

The facility, while not cavernous, is perhaps larger than most teams play in. The video board, with its live-time statistics and instant replays, is a perk that reflects the stakes.

So how did Davenport High School senior outside hitter Talan Dodson encapsulate the inner and outer workings of the occasion?

“The court’s the same size, the net’s the same, everything’s the same,” she said. “We’re not really focused on what’s around us. It’s a volleyball court.”

And that is the place where the Wolves are at their best.

Paced by tough serving and blocking, resiliency during clutch moments and contributions from heralded and unheralded players, Davenport romped past Celina 25-16, 25-23, 25-20 Thursday in a Class 4A state semifinal match.

Davenport (46-5) will face defending state champion Canyon Randall (43-4) for the state title at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“Just watching us play with the confidence that we had was probably my favorite coaching moment to this day — just for them to go out there and grind no matter what the score was,” Davenport coach Taylour Toso said. “It was very exciting.”

Looking like a squad that was a regular at the state tournament and not one making its debut, Davenport didn’t exhibit any of the anxiety that players endure when making it to this moment.

“I told the girls when you get to the state tournament, it’s all emotion,” said Toso, a former standout player at O’Connor. “I told them the first set is going to be all emotion, the second set is going to be whose more coachable and continuing to find open shots and find ways to score, and then the third set is about who wants it more. And they really checked all those boxes tonight.”

The Wolves received their customary strong performances from the Dodson sisters — Talan (15 kills, 11 digs and two aces) and Ashtan (11 kills, nine digs and 1 1/2 blocks) — setter Lexi Dahl (20 assists, six kills, 11 digs and three aces), libero Logan Strong (26 digs) and senior setter Emily Chabot (15 assists and seven digs).

But it was players like senior outside hitter Aliyah Montanio, junior middle blocker Emily Williams and freshman Dakota Hart who came up huge on critical occasions. Montanio had two kills and an assisted block early in the first set to help Davenport get rolling. Hart only had one ace, but her tough serving took Celina’s offense out of system.

Williams, perhaps more so than anyone else, stood tallest. She had a kill and an assisted block late in the second set, breaking a 23-23 tie and giving the Wolves the win. In the first set, with the score tied at 13, she had a kill and an assisted block to jump-start a 12-3 closing run for Davenport.

“I feel like any time we need to get out of anything or just need someone to put the ball away, we give it to her,” Talan Dodson said of Williams. “She’s so confident and high energy, I feel like any time that she scores or makes the point, it brings all of us up.”

Celina (35-8), which arrived at the state tournament having won 16 of 17 matches, never bounced back after squandering a 22-19 advantage late in the second frame. The Bobcats were within 9-8 in the third set, but Davenport reeled off a 7-2 run to build a 16-10 lead before eventually closing out the contest on an ace from Dahl.

“I think we were just ready to play our game,” Davenport junior outside hitter Ashtan Dodson said. “We know that when we play our game, we can do anything we put our minds to. So, we were just really focused on one point at a time, and I feel that really helped our confidence, and not focusing on the negatives and focusing only on the positives.”

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1