The UIL volleyball playoffs began on Monday, setting off an intense, three-week journey that is equal parts emotionally, mentally and physically draining. But if all goes well, it concludes with a pretty nice prize at the end.
For high school seniors, the venture comes with a caveat. No matter how it ends, ranging from winning a state championship to enduring a first-round exit, there is finality to it. Eventually, there will be no more bus rides, no more practices, and no more uniform to wear.
For some of the area’s top seniors, claiming a state championship is the lone hole in an otherwise stellar playing resume. A few have come close to playing for the top prize, while others have faced a hurdle that has been tough to clear.
Those same seniors reflect on the win-now existence they’re now consumed with.

The night of Oct. 25 wasn’t much different than any other Tuesday evening that Kelli Fording has taken part in since early August.

Fording, an outside hitter on the O’Connor volleyball team, went through her pre-match routine, running through drills focused on passing, hitting and serving. As the start time for the O’Connor’s District 29-6A finale vs. Holmes drew near, Fording’s attention turned toward some stairs at Paul Taylor Field House. She saw the parents of each senior making their way to the court for a senior day ceremony.

For a moment, Fording paused, almost as if her volleyball life was flashing before her eyes. She had gone from the little girl who once sat in the stands and watched her older sister Kristin and teammates lead O’Connor to success, to perhaps herself having the same impact on a future generation of players.

“I just remember that day, just having this weird gut feeling that this was my last district game,” said Fording, who is committed to St. Edward’s. “It was just a really sweet moment. It was just a full-circle moment.”

The occasion was a milestone, but not the one that Fording has her sights on. After reaching the Region IV-6A tournament the past two seasons, losing in four sets to Reagan in 2020 and Austin Vandegrift in 2021, she’s determined to get her team over the hump. The Panthers are well on their way, sweeping Eagle Pass in bidistrict and Los Fresnos in the second round to each the regional quarterfinals for the fifth time in six seasons.

“That’s the one big thing for us this year, is holding each other accountable,” Fording said. “As a senior, knowing that this is your last year, you just want to make sure everybody’s on the same page about wanting the same thing, wanting to be in that state championship match, and hopefully coming home with that state title. I think that’s a really big thing for us.

“I think because we have been so successful in the past couple of years, as a senior I wanted to keep that mindset going that, ‘Oh, we’re going to be district champion. Oh, we’re going to work hard every day in practice to get to that point.’ “

Like Fording, Jenna Garza was around when O’Connor was one of the final 16 teams playing in the state. In 2020, the Panthers were 21-0 and hadn’t lost a set when they fell to Reagan. A year ago, despite being hit hard by graduation, they retooled and made it back to the regional semifinals.

“Having senior night has honestly fueled me a little bit more because I don’t want it to end,” said Garza, who is committed to Rollins College (Fla.). “When it does end, I want it to be far — state semifinals, state finals. It’s definitely push me to make it last longer. This year we’ve got a lot of returners from last year and we definitely have made it a goal to make it to that state tournament because we have been so close.”

Perhaps no area team has felt as much heartbreak of late as New Braunfels Canyon when it came to trying to play for all the marbles. The Cougarettes, not hiding their state-or-bust declarative a year ago, made it to the state tournament. They, however, lost to Grapevine in five sets in the state semifinals after holding a 2-0 advantage. In 2020, when the season was shortened by the COVID pandemic, Canyon appeared poised to make it state but lost in the regional final to Dripping Springs.

For Maya Jones, the close calls hit hard. In 2019, as a freshman, she watched as her older sister Angel’s high school career ended with a five-set loss to Churchill in the second round. A year later, she watched as her other sister Erin’s career concluded with a four-set setback vs. Dripping Springs in the Region IV-5A final. Then, there was last year.

“I feel like that’s making me grow as a person and cherish every little moment I have,” said Jones, an outside hitter committed to the University of Minnesota Crookston. “We definitely have a legacy to achieve because of last year.”

Attaining that legacy has been a focal point for Canyon from the moment it lost to Grapevine in the state semifinals last November at the Culwell Center in Garland.

“I think we’re really using that as a motivation,” Canyon senior libero Isabell Woo said. “We really want to go back and prove to people that we can go back and do even better than we did last year. I think we’re using that to lay it all on the line, every single point, every single game, even during practice. You never know when it could end.”

The Cougarettes, though, know the finish line is near. Their senior day ceremony on Oct. 25 brought as much to the forefront. So, too, has each round they’ve advanced to during the playoffs, which includes facing former district rival Alamo Heights in a Class 5A second-round encounter at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Steele.

“It was definitely emotional,” said Cougarettes senior middle blocker Courtney Pope, who is committed to Trinity. “A lot of us have played together for so long, so it’s difficult to think how this could be our last games.”

In 2019, Hannah Whittingstall played an integral part in Alamo Heights earning its first appearance at the UIL state tournament. Even then as a freshman, she stood out on a team that had only two seniors, a new coach, and was forced to play all of its matches on the road because of a campus-wide construction project.

The Mules had no trouble in securing an undefeated district title in a league that included opponents from San Antonio ISD, dropping only four sets, then raised their play even higher during the postseason, culminating with a sweep of Dripping Springs in the regional final.

Alamo Heights spent the previous two seasons in a district with the likes of New Braunfels Canyon, Dripping Springs, Boerne Champion and Kerrville Tivy. Both times, the team advanced to the regional quarterfinals before falling to Dripping Springs. The UIL realignment in February put the Mules back in a district with SAISD schools and MacArthur. They won all 16 district matches in sweeps, reviving memories from three years ago.

“It was so funny when we were going back into those old gyms,” said Whittingstall, who is committed to SMU. “We had so many flashbacks from our freshman year. Just to be playing in those gyms again is honestly really good memories. We worked so hard our freshman year to get to state, regardless if we didn’t have a gym. Now that we have these amazing facilities, we’re able to do more things. I just think that doing those things is going to help make it better for us to get back to where we were freshman year. I just think that the track that we’re on is a great track to get back to where we were. Our goal is to go back to state.”

And Whittingstall is doing her part to make it happen.

“She’s definitely stepped up and been more of a leader,” Alamo Heights coach Alex Bothe said of the 6-foot-1 middle hitter. “I think she’s just getting way smarter in the game. She’s very versatile. She’s just grown in all aspects of the game.”

The roles that Katie Hill and Brenna Heffron played during Reagan’s surreal run to the UIL Class 6A state semifinals two years ago were succinct. Hill was trying to adjust and contribute after moving from middle hitter to outside hitter to help boost an attack that had become predictable and too reliant on senior outside hitters Nyah Anderson and Julia Aleman.
Heffron was simply the “person who cheered on the sideline.”

Now seniors, each has overcome early-season injuries to emerge as team leaders. Heffron, who is pledged to St. Edward’s and just recently notched her 1,000th career dig, leads the backcourt. Hill leads with her play and voice.

“I feel like it’s definitely a different situation,” Heffron said. “I feel like we weren’t as worried sophomore year, because we knew what was ahead of us.”

Hill and Heffron hope what lies ahead is similar to what is behind them — another run at the state tournament. In 2020, when masks and limited attendance were just as much a part of the game-day experience because of the coronavirus pandemic, Reagan used an inspiring run to earn a place on its sport’s biggest stage.

The Rattlers opened the postseason by defeating Clemens in bidistrict, avenging a second-round playoff loss from a year earlier in which they squandered a 2-0 advantage. Reagan then knocked off unbeaten Austin Lake Travis and O’Connor in consecutive matches, before rallying to defeat Brandeis in the regional final.

In the state semifinals, Reagan fell to Katy Seven Lakes 25-16, 25-16, 21-25, 24-26, 15-12. The Rattlers rebounded after losing the first two sets, fought off two match points in the fourth set by scoring the final four points to turn a 24-22 deficit into a win. They trailed 12-7 in the fifth stanza, closed the gap to 13-11, but got no closer. Hill was instrumental in the comeback, coming up big in key spots in the third and fourth sets, and that coming-of-age moment that December night in Katy transformed the 6-1 middle hitter.

“I had to be more present on the court,” Hill said.

Hill and Heffron were up to the task when the Rattlers needed them. Reagan outlasted Clemens 25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 15-12 in a Class 6A bidistrict as Hill had three blocks and Heffron added 35 digs, falling just shy of recording back-to-back 40-dig performances.

Now the Rattlers face Round Rock Westwood at 7 p.m. Friday at Buda Johnson High School, aiming to keep alive aspirations of a deep playoff run.

“I don’t really focus on that,” Hill said of the win-or-go-home nature of the playoffs. “I’m sure it’ll hit me that, ‘Oh, this could be my last high school game ever.’ “

On paper, Pleasanton’s Sadie McAda and Victoria Urbancyzk have authored careers that are pretty much stuff of legends. They have reached individual statistical milestones, collected accolades for their play at tournaments, during district and overall, and helped guide the Eagles to a district championship and four straight playoff appearances.

But deep down, they know something is missing — a protracted postseason run. Pleasanton has never advanced past the second round during McAda and Urbancyzk’s tenure. The Eagles play Bishop in a Class 4A second-round matchup at 6 p.m. Friday in George West.

“We’ve had multiple team meetings, we had team dinners where we’ve talked about it,” said McAda, who is committed to Southern Mississippi for indoor and beach volleyball. “It’s just a big goal to go as far as we can in the playoffs.”

This could be the year. Pleasanton (41-2) has been dominant throughout the season, putting together a 35-match winning streak — the third-longest in area history — after a season-opening loss to Johnson City.

“When we were in offseason, a lot of girls were working together and trying to build up our connection,” said Urbancyzk, who plans to play in college because hasn’t decided where. “We had the mentality, ‘Give it your all.’ Once this is done, we’re all going to be going our separate ways, and we have to finish with a bang.”

McAda and Urbancyzk feel the team is up to the challenge. Already this year, they’ve endured “overrated” chants, stemming from a history in which the team faltered during the playoffs after registering strong regular seasons.

“There’s a huge target on our back since we had that many wins in a row,” said McAda, who has more than 700 kills and nearly 600 digs this season. “The loss that we had (to La Vernia), it was a really important loss because we figured out what holes we needed to fill, and it brought us closer together as a team. This year is something different. We’ve been building for a lot of games. We just want to keep the energy.”

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1