Wylie Prep senior Molli Miller makes a pass during the TAPPS Region Championship match. Miller and the Lady Patriots battled Rockwall-Heritage Christian in the Division III state semifinals last Friday. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Heading into its TAPPS Division III state semifinals match against Rockwall-Heritage Christian, the Wylie Prep volleyball team had played the Lady Eagles twice this season.
The Lady Eagles won both matches in three sets, but each set was decided by five or less points.
The Lady Patriots were hopeful that familiarity would help get them over the hump against their District 3-3A rival last Friday. Yet, for as well as Wylie Prep battled at times, the Lady Patriots struggled to handle the Lady Eagles’ aggressive serving in a season-ending 3-0 loss (25-15, 25-23, 25-17) at Waco University High School.
“We did some really good things,” head coach Jodie Rye said. “Ultimately, Heritage beat us with their serves. They have some very good servers. Our passers struggled to handle their serves and didn’t allow us to get into much of an offensive rhythm. Heritage played really well, too. They kept pushing us and weren’t making a lot of mistakes.”
One year after finishing as the state runner-up, Wylie Prep sought to take things one step further.
After winning each of its first three playoff matches — all in four sets — Wylie Prep had its sights set on not only making it back to the state championship game but capturing its first state championship in program history.
Wylie Prep (14-15-1) had life in the early going.
Senior outside hitter Reagan Lipe hit the ball up the left line for a kill and a 2-1 Lady Patriots lead. Lipe posted a team-high 11 kills and also contributed nine digs.
But the match quickly swung in Heritage Christian’s favor. The Lady Eagles consistently hit the ball hard, and many of those booming hits were struck by their duo of senior outside hitter Kiaya Lee and sophomore middle hitter Samantha Glaze.
Lee posted two kills over a span of four points to jump-start the Lady Eagles’ offense, and Heritage Christian’s lead grew to 16-6 after a tip kill by senior Deanna Montgomery.
Wylie Prep junior Brooke Van Meerveld briefly stopped Heritage Christian’s momentum with a kill on the ensuing point, but it was all Lady Eagles the rest of the way as they took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
A strong effort behind the service line helped the Lady Patriots get off to a much better start in the second set. A majority of the damage was done by junior Remey Cunniff. Cunniff spotted a service ace to give Wylie Prep an 8-4 lead for its largest advantage of the match.
The Lady Patriots had their chances to level the match at one set apiece. Wylie Prep rallied from 23-20 deficit to tie the score at 23-23 with a Van Meerveld ace. She finished the match with four aces and eight kills. Freshman Jaylee Rye added 16 assists and 11 digs.
After a Heritage Christian timeout, the Eagles scored the next two points to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Glaze punctuated the win by hitting the ball just over the net on the final point.
Wylie Prep had its chances in the third set. Lipe had three kills over the first 12 points, and Van Meerveld later notched a kill of her own to give the Lady Patriots a 12-9 lead.
Heritage Christian, though, answered with a 15-4 run and went on to complete the sweep of Wylie Prep.
Despite the loss, coach Rye said that she was proud of how her team overcame adversity and injuries to make it to the state tournament for the second consecutive season.
“Getting back to state was our team’s goal from the very beginning,” she said. “When you go to state the previous year, you want to follow that up. I think that it put a lot of pressure on themselves to get back there. Midway through the season, they were feeling the pressure. It was overwhelming at times to them. As the season went along, they knew they had to get to the point where they just have to play. It was do or die. They didn’t want to give up.”
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