Magical Ladycats run ends in state-semifinal thriller 

GARLAND – The Aledo Ladycats, ranked No. 5 in the state, entered the gymnasium inside of the Curtis Culwell Center for their Tuesday night matchup against the McKinney North Lady Bulldogs with plenty of confidence, riding a 24-game winning streak.

However, one of the greatest seasons in Aledo history came to an end with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss. 

The Ladycats claimed the Region I crown after taking down the mighty Colleyville Heritage Lady Panthers in straight sets during their clash in the regional final, which secured Aledo’s best postseason finish since 2017 when they last reached the state semifinals in coach Claire Gay’s first season at the helm. 

In this match, the Ladycats (35-8) faced the Lady Bulldogs (28-11) – the Region II champions – with a spot in the Class 5A Division I state title on the line. Aledo and McKinney North battled in a high-quality match that needed all five sets to decide the victor. Ultimately, McKinney North was able to squeak out the win in a tight fifth set, as Aledo’s impressive season came to a close. The final score was 21-25, 25-19, 13-25, 26-24 and 15-13. 

“This team – I just love them,” Gay said. “It’s hard to not get them to where they wanted to be and to finish where they wanted to finish, but they worked really hard and are just an incredible group of women – they’re going to do really big things in life. They loved each other the whole way through, and it’s fun to coach a group of girls in it for the right reasons, not to be selfish. It was such a blessing this year because they added so much joy to my life.” 

Aledo secured an early 6-2 edge fueled by kills from seniors Morgan Estevez and Kinley Elms – who gave McKinney North’s talented back line fits all night with a barrage of powerful attacks from the right side. A few points later, senior Haley Lowe hammered kills at 9-6 and 11-9 to keep the opposition at bay. After that, star junior Alyssa Todd tatted the back line for a kill to make it a 12-10 lead. Then, senior setter Ava Reding served an ace that extended the lead to 15-10 and forced McKinney North to call a timeout in the process. 

The Lady Bulldogs pulled to within a point on a 7-2 run that forced Gay to call a timeout. The teams continued to exchange points, with Aledo’s last lead coming at 21-20 after a kill by Todd and an ace from senior libero Kenrie Pruitt. However, the Lady Bulldogs stole the first set after ending the opening frame on a 4-0 scoring run. 

In the second set, Estevez and senior Ella Isbell got Aledo going in the early action. Later, Aledo took its first lead at 14-13 following an ace from Todd and a tip by Elms. Isbell, a defensive stalwart up front for Aledo, blocked a McKinney North attack for a 16-13 advantage that forced the Lady Bulldogs to call a timeout. After that, Elms put down a big kill for a 20-16 lead and Estevez followed with one of her own two points later for a 21-17 margin. From there, the Ladycats scored four of the final six points to even the match at one set apiece. 

McKinney North roared back with a strong, 12-point win in the third set, and Gay got her troops ready to rally from there. 

“They haven’t been battle tested like that in a while, and I just had to remind them that they (McKinney North) are a good team just like we’re a good team,” Gay said. “You just have to trust what got us here, buy into each other and you can’t worry about the errors and mistakes. You have to play for the next point, and their backs were against the wall and they fought hard.” 

With their backs firmly against the wall, the Ladycats answered the bell and responded with a strong, gutsy effort in the fourth set. Aledo trailed the entire fourth set until the late stages, when a massive kill from Elms and a net violation by McKinney North tied the score at 19-all. Then, the first lead (20-19) came off a double contact penalty by the Lady Bulldogs. After McKinney North knotted the score at 20-20, Todd hammered home a kill for a 21-20 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs responded by scoring the next two to see-saw back in front, 22-21. 

Then, the scales tipped back in Aledo’s favor with two Ladycat points – a Todd kill and a McKinney North error. The trend continued as McKinney North got a pair of points that put them within one point of a spot in the state championship game. Despite that, Todd – with nerves of steel – delivered a clutch kill that tied the match at 24-24. After that, Pruitt served another ace and McKinney North committed a hitting error that brought the semifinal bout to a sudden death fifth set. 

Elms opened the fifth set with a loud kill for Aledo. Then, Estevez produced back-to-back kills for a 5-3 advantage, but the opposition stuck its nose out in front 8-6 after a 5-1 scoring run. Trailing 11-9, Elms became the offensive focal point as she continued to deliver clutch, timely kills to keep Aledo within a point. Her last kill of the match trimmed McKinney North’s lead to 14-13, but the Lady Bulldogs got the deciding kill to edge the Ladycats, ending their tremendous season. 

“No discredit to the other two teams playing tonight to get to the state championship, but I feel like that was a true match to see in the finals,” Gay said. “I mean, Region I and II, you’ve got a lot of talent here and we’ve battled each other all year long. Again, I’m not taking anything away from the teams down south because they have really good volleyball programs, but I just think this was a matchup of two really good, very similar volleyball teams, and they just made fewer errors than we did.”. 

Aledo won District 5-5A, achieved a top-five state ranking, defeated its 2023 playoff nemesis (Colleyville Heritage) in straight sets to claim Region I, collected 35 wins and completed a perfect sweep of its district competition without dropping a single set.