La Vernia sophomore Adyson Dye jumped and stretched her arms above the net and blocked an attack attempt by Bellville’s Rebecca Lucksinger late in the third set, sending the ball tumbling harmlessly to the floor for the biggest point so far in La Vernia High School volleyball history.

The play put an exclamation on the Bears’ 25-18, 25-18, 25-16 win in a Class 4A Division I state semifinal match last Saturday at Littleton Gym. As one side of the venue roared its approval, a blue-and-white blur of players sprinted onto the court and quickly morphed into a blue-and-white-clad dogpile. Smiles were flashed. High-fives were exchanged.

The moment was both exhilarating and decades in the making. It was an occasion that erased years of heartbreak and flashbacks of what could have been. Sisyphus had finally pushed a volleyball-shaped boulder up the mountainside.

La Vernia (43-9) faces defending state champion Decatur (41-7) for the 4A Division I state championship at 4 p.m. Friday at the Culwell Center in Garland.

“It’s just such a gratifying feeling that we can make it this far and play for each other,” La Vernia sophomore middle blocker Emily Kosub said. “Coming into this game, and being the underdog, because Bellville has knocked us out of the playoffs time after time, it’s such a surreal feeling to beat them.”

It’s a feeling that La Vernia seemed as if it might never experience. For nearly 40 years, La Vernia has been a consistent winner. The Bears won district championships and tournament titles, are always in the UIL playoffs, consistently recorded 30- and 40-win seasons, and have produced a who’s who of San Antonio-area volleyball.

This is the place where Robin Gerlich, before guiding Churchill, Seguin and New Braunfels to the UIL state tournament and San Antonio Christian to the TAPPS state tournament, started a coaching career that produced more than 800 wins. Patti Zenner, better known for coaching Poth to nine state titles, is a graduate. Shannon Wolfe, who guided Southwest to two regional tournament appearances and Floresville and Madison to at least the regional quarterfinals, is an alum. So are Misty Fletcher-Remmers, who has Wimberley on the verge of a second straight Class 4A Division II state crown, and Kym (Pollok) Pharris, whose daughter Carlee was a standout on Brandeis’ 2021 state championship squad.

In 1989, Gerlich’s first season, La Vernia fell in the regional semifinals to Poth, which would go on to make the first of its 14 appearances at the state tournament. A year later, the Bears lost in the regional final to Freer. There would be playoff losses to Bellville, Needville, Wimberley and Columbus, each seemingly dashing promising seasons. There were injuries to key players that undercut seasons with aspirations of deep postseason runs. In 1993, Coach Lynn Ann Gilbreath died shortly after concluding her first season. She was 30.

The Bears appeared to be snake-bitten. They had an always-the-bridegroom-and-never-the-bride appeal.

In the early 2000s, Theresa Reyes arrived as the new head volleyball coach, the third coach in as many seasons, following the late Bernice Voigt and Jimmie Jo Conn. Reyes wasn’t even the first choice among the candidates to fill the opening, she said, but was tasked with trying to get the program over an obstacle. Reyes led the Bears to the postseason in all but one of her 17 years at the helm, including the regional final in 2016 vs. district rival Navarro. The teams split their two league encounters that season — La Vernia winning in a sweep and Navarro prevailing in five sets — and shared the district crown. In a third meeting, with a state berth on the line, Navarro rolled to a 25-20, 25-22, 25-18 triumph, finishing strong in each frame and overcoming a nine-point deficit in the second set.

“Every flipping year,” said Reyes, who just completed her first season at Pleasanton after previously coaching at Lumberton, of how often she reflects on the loss. “There’s no doubt I replay everything all the time, just to try and figure out … It’s always in the back of my mind. We were always that close. It just wasn’t in the cards, I guess.
I’m proud of the program. I don’t think I’m being selfish, but I worked very hard every year. It’s always been a good program; just couldn’t get over that hump for some reason.”

Current La Vernia coach Danielle Coleman understands the Bears’ plight well. She endured a similar tale as a libero at Reagan, losing to Austin Westlake in the regional final in 2007 and 2008. In the latter matchup, Reagan overcame a 14-11 deficit in the fifth set, erasing three match points, and took a 16-15 advantage before Westlake surged for a 25-19, 22-25, 18-25, 25-19, 18-16 victory. It was the third time in four years that Westlake ended Reagan’s season.

When Coleman interviewed for the La Vernia job when it opened after the 2021 season, fresh off of helping New Braunfels Canyon advance to the state tournament as an assistant coach, she knew La Vernia had “tremendous athletes” and was a “volleyball community.”

The Bears were long on physical skills and talent. It was a mental hurdle that needed to be cleared — especially during the playoffs. The UIL’s decision to split its playoff format into two divisions a year ago, based on enrollment, helped.

“Getting out of, ‘Man, here we go, here’s this team we always see here,’ ” Coleman said of the importance of changing the players’ mentality. “Once we broke that barrier, in their brain, it’s like, ‘We’re creating history.’ “

Over the hump
Less than a week ago, La Vernia made its way to Littleton Gym for one more opportunity to remove a frustrating albatross. The Bears faced a familiar foe, one that had ended their season twice in the previous three seasons.

With a senior-laden squad, the Bears knew this could be their best chance to finally get over the top. Coleman employed a simple game plan vs. Bellville, one that was less about strategy and more about mentality. She told her players to play with aggression and have short memories, and if they get blocked, commit an error, or the opponent goes on a run, just move on.

“We knew that we were going to have to do that to be able to beat this team,” said Coleman, in her fourth season at the helm. “We talked about that, regardless of the result, we have to play this way. When the score was reflecting that in a positive manner for us, it made it a little bit easier; their buy-in was a little bit more; they laughed off their errors a little bit because they knew, ‘Man, this game plan is going to work.’ “

La Vernia shook off an early 5-1 deficit as Kosub served for three straight aces, providing a spark that would fuel the win.

“It’s really surreal going back there,” Kosub said of her service run. “It’s such a big responsibility because it’s the only thing you can control in a game. When we’re on a roll and we have momentum, we play so much better as a team.”

Paisley Pavliska, who is committed to Arkansas, led the Bears with 18 kills. Avery Keck, a Dallas Baptist signee, Dye and Addison Lundin and Avery Pitus provided crucial contributions. Setter Madelynn Nagelmueller orchestrated it all. Karis Carpenter, a Texas State signee, and Keeley Sekula sparked the defense.

La Vernia never looked back after grabbing control in the first set, using a late surge to capture the second frame and building an eight-point lead in the third stanza.

By then, the outcome was merely a formality as Pavliska pounded five kills to give the Bears a 24-16 lead and a match point. Dye’s block sealed the triumph over eight-time state champion Bellville — and washed away decades of frustration and heartache.

“It makes it so sweet when you do get over that hurdle,” Coleman said. “You just prepare them in every aspect, and then you build this fire within them that they want to win at all costs. Yeah, they want to win the volleyball, but they want to win the respect. They don’t want to be the underdog every time. Once you light that fire, they just take it. “

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