The Wylie Prep volleyball team poses for pictures with fans in attendance at North Lake College in Irving after defeating Irving-The Highlands School 3-1 in a TAPPS Division III regional playoff match on Saturday morning. Photo by David Wolman / C&S Media
By David Wolman
IRVING – This season for the Wylie Prep volleyball team has been about overcoming obstacles.
The Lady Patriots underwent a slight rebuild after losing two players from last season’s state runner-up team — Parker Fitzgerald and Summer Van Meerveld — to graduation.
If that wasn’t enough, the injury bug took its toll.
Wylie Prep lost junior middle blocker Brooke Van Meerveld for four weeks because of a concussion and senior outside hitter Reagan Lipe for two weeks because of a back injury. During the Lady Patriots’ first-round playoff match against Burton Adventist Academy, they had to rely on several of their younger players to clinch a 3-1 win.
With a full lineup available for Saturday morning’s TAPPS Division III regional playoff match against Irving The Highlands School, everything came together for the Lady Patriots in a 3-1 come-from-behind win (17-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-15) at North Lake College.
“It took us a little while to get going at the beginning because we had to figure out everyone’s role,” head coach Jodie Rye said. “We had a lot of new players joining us. It was a little tricky. Then we started to get going and were playing well to start district. Then we lost Brooke to a concussion, Reagan to an injury. But everyone has contributed. It’s not just a few — it’s everybody. Everyone has helped us get to this point.”
Wylie Prep (14-14-1), last year’s TAPPS Division III state runner-up, is headed back to the state semifinals, where the Lady Patriots will play Heritage Christian Academy-Rockwall next week.
The Lady Patriots struggled to find a consistent rhythm in the first set. Wylie Prep missed five serves and struggled to contain the powerful left arm of The Highlands junior outside hitter Camille Cannon.
Fresh off a dominant performance in which she posted 25 kills in a 3-2 win over Lucas Christian Academy, Cannon put on another hitting clinic against Wylie Prep. Her 10th kill of the opening set gave the Lady Blazers a 24-14 lead. The Lady Patriots fought off three set points, but a missed serve clinched the set for The Highlands.
Although Cannon added 14 more kills over the match’s final three sets to finish with 24, Wylie Prep didn’t make it easy for her — especially as the Lady Patriots began getting more touches on her hits.
“She’s incredible,” Rye said. “Our game plan was to shut her down. We had to have two blockers on her, three blockers on her, make her play every ball she could because we knew if we could get in her head a little bit, that was going to be the only way we were going to shut her down.”
Wylie Prep had its chances in the second set, but a few hitting errors nearly dug the Lady Patriots into a 2-0 hole. Then Lipe helped swing the momentum. With Wylie Prep trailing 21-18, she posted a kill that energized her team. Her spark ignited a 7-2 run, capped by a Cannon hitting error, to level the match at one set apiece.
The Highlands regrouped and came out firing to begin the third set, taking a quick 4-0 lead on two Cannon kills.
However, Wylie Prep wasn’t fazed. The Lady Patriots remained composed, setting the stage for a huge run. Lipe and Van Meerveld came up with timely kills, and Wylie Prep got strong defensive play from senior libero Molli Miller and senior Sage Dixon. The Lady Patriots finished the set on a 25-9 run to take a 2-1 lead.
“Everybody just stepped up and turned it up another notch,” Rye said. “Our hitters came up big. We started to hammer the ball. We were originally in a 6-2 and switched to a 5-1. Then they just balled out the rest of the way.”
Wylie Prep faced some resistance early in the fourth set, but the Lady Patriots didn’t relent. Then, with Wylie Prep one point away from a state berth, fans in attendance raised their index fingers in the air. Moments later, Van Meerveld notched a kill to end the match.
“They were awesome, and it’s homecoming for us today,” Rye said. “For all of these people to be here today and support us was great.”
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