Playing for a chance at a winner-take-all, tiebreaker play-in match, Meridian Lady Jackets come up short to wrap season with District 13-2A loss to Itasca
Going into the final match of the 2024Texas high school volleyball regular season, the Meridian Lady Jacket volleyball team were fighting to stay alive. One win and the Lady Jackets would earn the right to play a winner-take-all tiebreaker showdown for a playoff berth.
Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be as the Lady Jackets closed out their campaign with a straight set loss to the Itasca Lady Wampus Cats to wrap up the District 13-2A schedule on Senior Night last Friday evening at Yellowjacket Gymnasium.
“My girls came into this game ready to play for each other,” Meridian volleyball head coach Lyndsie Schur said. “I told them in the days leading up to the game that I didn’t want anyone or anything to drive them to play better more than playing for each other. I told them that as long as we played how we are capable, it would be a tight match but not to let that shy them away from playing their best. I think the third set was a very good indicator of that.”
If Meridian (0-8 in district, 3-25 overall) had been able to beat Itasca (2-6, 10-19) in the finale, it would have set up a fourth-place tiebreaker showdown between the two teams for the district final postseason spot.
With the UIL’s new playoff format in place for this season, the two schools with the highest enrollments will go to the big school Division I bracket and the two schools with the lowest enrollment will go to the small school Division II bracket. From District 13-2A, district champion Frost (8-0, 14-10) and fourth place Itasca will be placed in the Division II bracket, while runner-up Italy (5-3, 19-13) and third place Rio Vista (5-3, 18-15) will compete in the DI bracket.
“I am extremely proud of how hard our girls fought all season,” Schur said. “It is tough to bring a great attitude and a good work ethic when the scoreboard just isn’t going your way, but our girls did. They fought through the adversity no matter how much it kept swinging at them.
“I challenged them about middle of the season to develop a fighter mentality, figuratively, of course. Meaning if an opponent catches you with a right hook, come back swinging with the right and left. Essentially don’t accept defeat, every touch we are going to win. We got better on that aspect too.”
With the close of the season, the Lady Jackets will be saying goodbye to three seniors – Mackenzie Borhofen, Mariana Paniagua and Journey Stauffer.
“Losing the three seniors that we are losing is going to be tough,” Schur said. “First of all, they have all three been an integral part of our team and success for the last three years. And secondly, they have led our program, especially this year, extremely well. I started with their attendance at Summer Workouts, then they came in each day ready to work hard and get better.
“We were extremely young this past season. Honestly, younger than I realized until we got going. So one thing that we will definitely have under our belts is experience. We are losing three seniors to graduation, but we did have six other players get a good amount of playing time this season. I am excited for what we have coming back and the future of the Lady Jackets.”
Despite the losses to graduation, the Lady Jackets will return eight underclassmen with varsity experience next season – juniors Dyna Potter and Katelyn Ramirez, sophomores Sarah Rosales, Afton Smith and Hannah Beaudin, as well as freshmen Daylee Gilbert, Mailey Padgett and Abigail Dietiker.
“This season was one that had so much growth,” Schur said. “From day one to the very end, my girls came in the gym eager to be better. Every day, they worked to be better than the day before. The wins might not have been on the scoreboard as much as we had hoped, but they were in the little details each day – the gained confidence of each player, our hitters improving greatly, the positive impact each girl had on each other.
“One of my freshmen put it best, saying ‘This was the best team I’ve ever been a part of. No drama. Just girls who welcomed each other and encouraged each other every point.’ I will add ‘girls who truly love one other. Girls who are family.’ I pray that the seniors know the impact that they had on each and every person involved in our volleyball program. Lady Jacket Volleyball has an exciting future, and I’m so thankful to be a part of it.”
Photos by WENDY OROZCO
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