GARLAND — As Brandeis High School volleyball coach Maddie Williams navigated her team through the twists and turns of a season, she quickly learned that the team had a unique trait.

When her players put too much pressure on themselves, taking things too seriously or overanalyzing details, they struggled. When the players let their hair down and had fun, though, they were at their best.

The key was to understand the dichotomy between the two.

What does fun look like?

It’s Grace Xu circling the court in search of someone to hug before finally embracing teammate Dani Gray.

What does fun look like?

It’s Ella Chapman providing boundless energy from the sideline by dancing, leading chants and waving a towel with such velocity that the tongue-in-cheek premise of Tommy John surgery has been brought up.

What does fun look like?

It is teenagers rolling on a floor some five hours from home, tears flowing, as shrieks of “we did it” pierced the air.

What does fun feel like?

It feels like being the best in Texas and doing something that hasn’t been accomplished in San Antonio in nearly 20 years.

Brandeis put a bow on a magical season by rallying past Keller 27-29, 25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 15-12 Saturday to capture the UIL Class 6A state championship before nearly 1,400 at the Culwell Center.

Fittingly, senior outside hitter Leila Smalls recorded the title-winning kill. She endured three ACL injuries to her right knee, including one barely a year ago that had her contemplating whether to go through a third surgery and rehab process to play again.

“I was still debating do I want to play volleyball or not,” Smalls said. “But thank God I did, because I wouldn’t be here right now. I wouldn’t be able to experience this with my teammates.”

Brandeis became the 11th area school to claim a public-school volleyball state crown, joining Clark, Churchill, Jay, New Braunfels Canyon, New Braunfels, Devine, Poth, Harlandale, McCollum and Jourdanton. The Broncos are the first area school to win state since Poth in 2014 and the first in the state’s largest classification since Clark in 2003.

The triumph over Keller helped Brandeis (47-2) tie Churchill’s 2013 Class 6A state finalist squad and Clark’s 2018 regional-finalist team for the most wins in a season in area history.

“Our bond is so incredibly special, so just knowing that we were able to have that great of a season just means the absolute world to every single one of us,” said Brandeis senior setter Carlee Pharris, who had 49 assists, 12 digs and 3.5 blocks. “We’re going to remember this forever.”

For months, Brandeis tossed aside one opponent after the next, combining a deep and talented roster with a determination borne out of a heartbreaking loss to Reagan in the Region IV-6A final in 2020. As the season progressed, and the Broncos continued to win, a sense developed that something special was unfolding.

Williams could see and feel it, pointing to her squad’s chemistry, work ethic and maturity. But on the final day of the season, on the biggest stage, those attributes were put to the test. Brandeis, which had rarely been challenged, was in a fight — and was losing it.

“These girls work so hard and have held their heads up in complete class, no matter what,” Williams said. “I told them do not finish this way. This is not us. We’re going to leave it all on the court.”

With Keller (32-13) using tough serving (13 aces) to grab a 2-1 lead in sets and closing in on a state crown, the Broncos swiftly flipped the script. They jumped out to a 5-1 advantage in the fourth set, then used another 5-0 run to pull away after Keller tied it at 9-9. The Broncos never looked back.

“After those first couple of points, we knew we weren’t going down without a fight,” said Brandeis junior outside hitter Emma Halstead, who had 16 kills and 12 digs. “I think once that mindset flipped, we were winning this or if we lost, it was going down to the very end.”

Senior outside hitter Jalyn Gibson fueled the charge. She had six of her match-high 29 kills in the fourth frame. Gibson, named MVP of the final, accounted for nearly half of Brandeis’ 60 kills.

“My mentality was just put the ball down,” Gibson said. “We came this far and we just had to give it our all, because we knew this was our last game.”

Gibson, Pharris, Halstead and Smalls paved the way, but it was the likes of less-heralded players such as Austin Smoak, Sophia Kuyn and Xu that provided a crucial boost. Sophomores Smoak and Kuyn combined for eight of their team’s 15 blocks, while Xu, a junior, tied for the team lead in digs with 14.

“It’s really an all-in mentality thing,” said Kuyn, who missed the first two weeks of the playoffs after spraining her right ankle on the eve of the team’s bidistrict match vs. East Central. “(It’s about) going in there, just doing my part, doing exactly what I need to do to get everyone on the right track, and just be the best that we can be as a team. Since the beginning of the season, we had this mission and we’ve always been working so, so hard for that mission.”

Whether the mission would be accomplished came down to a decisive fifth set. The teams were tied at 6-6 before Gibson and Halstead combined for five kills and Pharris and Kuyn each had a block as Brandeis grabbed a 14-11 margin and three match points.

Two plays later, Smalls secured the historic win with a kill that her coach said she “worked three years for,” setting off a wild celebration on the court and in the stands. Brandeis had a remarkable combined .378 hitting percentage over the final two sets, racking up 22 kills in 45 swings and committed just five hitting errors.

“We had to find a groove and figure it out,” Williams said after her club finished the season on a 25-match winning streak. “We don’t need to bark at each other and yell at each other. We can hold each other accountable. But the energy is (the) key. I think we found that. I was confident. I knew we could win. I knew Keller was a great team and we would be tested — that’s how the state final should be. I’m just really proud in how they dug deep.”

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Twitter: @sa_terrence1