By Greg Jaklewicz
Photos Courtesy of @WylieVarsityVolleyBall and WylieSports.com
Coach Shay Cox’s team was No. 1 in District 4-5A last year, beating Wichita Falls Memorial in a playoff for the title.
This season, there is one senior, Avery LaCroix.
And in a sport where the ball cannot touch the ground on your side of the net, the six players on the court must play as … one.
Building on Last Year’s Success
Cox enters her 12th season at Wylie with a team that hopes to repeat last year’s success, and then some. The Bulldogs were 25-18 and advanced to the third round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs — the school’s best showing since moving from 4A in 2018.
Wylie took down Lubbock Coronado 3-0 in bidistrict and El Paso Jefferson 3-0 in the area round. In those six games, Wylie did not give up 20 points.
The Bulldogs bowed out of the playoffs to Argyle (3-0), which lost to eventual state champion Frisco Wakeland in five games in the state semifinals.
In the Texas Girls Coaches Association preseason poll, Wakeland is No. 2 and Argyle is No. 4.
With six juniors and sophomores joining LaCroix, Cox believes she has the nucleus to battle deep into the playoffs again.
“I have six sophomores and six juniors, and while some of it feels young, they’ve played so much volleyball and I am almost able, on the fly, to change our defensive scheme … and they are able to make adjustments without really any panic,” she said. “They may not be perfect but they know and they understand the volleyball IQ.
Sometimes, they’re out there coaching each other. It really helps me.”
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Growing up fast
Wylie showed its potential by defeating Panhandle powerhouse Randall 3-1 and Class 6A Frenship 3-1 in its opening doubleheader. That “one” showed up again — Wylie beat Randall for the first time. Randall is the No. 5 team in Class 4A.
WHS played without junior middle Haddie Mock, who next week will return from a summer injury.
This allowed Cox to look at other players at the position and to see how other combinations worked.
“I wanted to see what they could do, and they played so well,” she said.
Defense and blocking were strong on opening night, she said.
The Bulldogs graduated eight players and have six returning to the varsity. On paper, the team trends to the young side but “so many of these kids are experienced,” Cox said. “They don’t feel as young.”
Still, a team has to gel and there were some season-opening jitters.
“I will see some of the youth peek through,” Cox said.
Wylie was down 23-21 to Frenship in the first set of the season but came back to win.
Then, Wylie scored 14 points in dropping the second set before winning the last two.
The Bulldogs also lost their second set against Randall, too.
“It was really cool to see that not take us down as a team,” LaCroix said. “We just turned to the third set and we said, like, ‘This is the new one and we start fresh. Whatever happened the last one doesn’t matter. We’re going to go out and win.”
She credited junior teammate Logan Hill with helping keep the team upbeat.
“It’s OK, we’re going to get this next one,” LaCroix said. “She’s really good about leading that back row.”
Mechanics and Mindset
Of course, something had to change mechanically on the court, too.
“Volleyball is hard. You’re taking a ball that never stops and you have to direct it where you want it. You don’t get to catch it. You don’t have a glove, you don’t get to think about who you are throwing it to,” she said. “It has to happen fast, and at a young age, that can be super hard.”
Precision is essential, and practice leads to perfection.
Still, elements like size matter and talent.
Wylie is fielding a fairly tall team, with two players at 6-feet: Mock and Jenna Stricklin, a sophomore.
Cox is high on her setters, Kenley Collier and Annalise Loudermilk, another sophomore.
“They are both doing a great job of commanding the floor,” she said. “Both of those kids want nothing more than to put the perfect ball in the air” for the hitters.
Morgan Bearden, also a sophomore, and juniors Hill and Riley Calvo, have been passing well from the back row, Cox added.
When the pass is great, the set can be great and the hitter then can be great, she said.
Back to work
The Bulldogs returned to the court this weekend in the Bev Ball Classic. Like tennis coach Adam Cherry, who has his team ranked No. 1 in Texas, Cox is not shy about playing the best teams she can early on.
While last year’s record doesn’t pop like preseason 6A No. 1 Byron Nelson (40-1), the result of a tough schedule was Wylie’s best showing so far in 5A.
“I always set up a tough schedule, so the record never looks flashy,” Cox said. “We always go through the toughest teams we can in August and September.”
Wylie led off the Bev Ball tourney facing a new opponent, Lubbock-Cooper Liberty. Liberty, a good 4A team, beat Wylie in a summer tourney.
Liberty downed Wylie 2-1 in the regular season rematch.
But the Bulldogs rebounded to take down Jim Ned in two sets.
Other strong programs ahead are Birdville, Mansfield Summit, Midland Legacy and 3A powerhouse Bushland. Bushland is the preseason No. 1.
When district play arrives, Cox believes it will be Wylie and Memorial battling it out again for first place.
“It will be a dogfight. There was some back and forth,” Cox said.
Looking to Avery
Avery LaCroix
If Cox was coaching the Texas baseball team in Arlington, LaCroix would be the lone Ranger.
Last year, Wylie had eight seniors. This year, it’s quite the opposite.
The other 12 girls on the team can look to just one teammate. It’s an opportunity that LaCroix welcomes. Call her the ‘mama bear’ and she’s good with that.
“It was crazy to drop from eight people trying to lead to being the one person, but it’s really cool though to see how they respect how I am the only one trying to contain everyone,” LaCroix said. “It has been a really good experience, especially being with this group of girls as my last year.”
LaCroix has been all about volleyball since city of Abilene leagues for young girls.
“She is already leading,” Cox said. “She is a phenomenal young lady. Some of her closest friends on the team I feel are the young ones. They kind of gravitate to her.”
LaCroix said she has bonded especially with sophomore Kiki Bolden.
“I gave her rides to school and that created a really cool bond,” she said. “It’s fun to watch her shine out there and do her thing and encourage her.”
She paused.
“That’s a really big thing about our team. We’re really big encouragers. We love to lift each other up.”
“Everything we ask of her, she does all that she can,” Cox said.
On the court, Cox said her senior, who goes about 5-10, is blocking well and playing the middle and right sides with skill.
“And she’s serving and playing defense,” Cox added.
Ups and downs
What gets under Cox’s skin? What makes her jump for joy?
On the down side, it’s when an opponent’s server takes over.
“That server is in control. Our passers take one bad, and they try to shake it off. So, having a way to break that, other than having a timeout, maybe having a reset word because that can take you away from what you want to do,” she said.
Momentum is to volleyball what a run is to basketball. You want momentum on your side.
The upside for Cox is “having a really great dig.” Turning a potential point for the opponent into a point for the Bulldogs.
“We call that ‘dig to kill,’” she said.
A stuff block by her front line also is cause for celebration.
“Just fire us up,” she said.
Staying healthy, staying the course
Kiki Bolden
Having depth will help LaCroix, who will want to keep a shoulder injury last year at bay this season.
Taking care of the team physically is one of Cox’s tasks.
“Each year, you assess how they’ve coming in. This is a group that played a lot this summer and I knew I’d have to factor that in as how we approached August, how much we’re on the court, how much we’re getting treatment, how much we’re allowing our big players to rest,” Cox said.
Two of her outside hitters, sophomores Kiki Bolden and D’Nae Dolton, can “jump out of the gym,” she said.
The upside of summer volleyball is coming into the school season in great physical shape and with skills honed in self-led practices, tournaments as a Wylie team and traveling to College Station for a team camp at Texas A&M University.
The challenge then becomes maintaining health into the playoffs. Cox has to balance performance at the start with longevity of the season.
Because of extensive summer play, it’s a bit of a different year for the veteran coach. She joked that volleyball should have a jump counter on players’ shoes to monitor their play, much like pitch counts are kept in baseball.
“We just need to be really mindful of that with all of the girls,” Cox said.
It is, after all, a long way to the end of October and the start of the playoffs.
Getting even deeper in the playoffs and beating the likes of Argyle.
LaCroix put it together in one word. OK, maybe two.
“Grit … and the confidence that we can do it.”