Volleyball: Ladycats ready to roll after ’24 state run

Led by strong seniors like Kinley Elms, Ella Isbell, Haley Lowe, Ella Meador, and Kenrie Pruitt, the Ladycats got high-quality leadership from their fourth-year players through both difficult circumstances and energetic victories alike.

“Last season was kind of like a dream,” Ladycats head coach Claire Gay said. “From start to finish, I think the excellent quality of the kids and their character showed from start to finish. They were just excellent humans and great teammates to one another. We faced several unfortunate injuries at the beginning of the season, but we were able to pick up and keep going. It was also a true testament to those who didn’t get to play – they were great, excellent teammates on the sidelines and really helped call out plays and adjustments. I got to coach a lot, but the girls really coached themselves a lot. Their volleyball IQs significantly skyrocketed seeing the game from a different angle.”

The program is carefully constructed and built by Gay and her staff, who know it will be difficult to replace the production, character, and leadership of their five seniors. However, this year’s squad has 11 incoming seniors and Gay expects the positive, drama-free, high-effort environment to continue and trickle down to all levels of the program.

“We had a culture-changing season last year in terms of the success, the vibe of the program, and the energy surrounding it,” Gay said. “We have such great kids, the numbers are really high, and we are trying to have that family culture and participation trickle down to the subvarsity teams – they are a lot of fun.”

Gay builds subvarsity teams with the idea that they can slide up to the varsity level if need be.

“Our JV team is very good and we’ve tried to form and complete a team that could potentially be your varsity,” Gay said. “We worked really hard on our subvarsity teams with girls that we can see translating to a high level on varsity. We have really good pen hitters, middles, outside hitters, and back row players. Unfortunately here at Aledo, it is extremely competitive. You have to cut kids that you love, who work hard and are great kids. But, if you don’t see a place for them in their career or at that moment, I unfortunately don’t have enough jerseys to give everybody. It’s hard and it can be the worst time for a coach, but I think our subvarsity teams all went undefeated in district last year and won tournaments, which are still goals for this year. If anything happens, they’ll need to be ready to go on the varsity court.”

With 18 players on this year’s varsity roster, Gay is confident in the completeness of her roster and the skills they gained throughout the offseason.

Standout senior Alyssa Todd is expected to lead the charge as a six-rotation player with a crafty offensive arsenal. Gay said mental positivity and continued versatility with shot selection will be keys for Todd, who competed at a high level on the club circuit this offseason. Ladycat setters Kailey Hamilton and Sophie Frank return from last year’s squad with another year of experience and plenty of situational work that has grown their volleyball IQs even further. Gay lauded both setters’ defensive skills, effort, and increased knowledge of situational setting. Middle blockers Karsyn Trott and Lilly Lufkin will return to the front line after missing all or most of last year to respective leg injuries while athletic sophomore Kennedy Christy was elevated to the varsity squad as well. Allie Lobaugh, a key contributor up front last year, is working on a possible return after suffering a gruesome leg injury during the offseason.

Kenley Hamilton, Karsyn Evans, Tatum Kossee, Isabella Becker, and Avery Pipkins are expected to be big contributors in the back row after productive offseasons while Payton Patrick, Lilly Morris, and Savannah Thompson should give Aledo some quality arms from either pen.

Furthermore, Gay was impressed specifically with the progress of incoming junior Kaylee Berkley, who is coming off a torn ACL. The junior, who stepped in for injured teammates as a freshman, is eager to get back on the court after missing out on last year.

“I told her mom that she has come back stronger, wiser, and she’s taking great care of herself,” Gay said. “She’s jumping higher, lifting more, and I think the ACL tear really lit a fire in her for her return. She has transformed significantly as a player.”

The Ladycats will use another difficult preseason slate to prepare for another hopeful district-championship sweep and deep postseason run.

“We always start the year off with a good, tough team, and I don’t think we’ve beaten Keller in a long time,” Gay said. “These girls play club with those girls in the metroplex, but it would be nice just to compete. We need to be exposed early to know what we need to work on, and I want to play teams that are going to expose us. Then, we will hit the Katy ISD Tournament, and I like going down there because there are teams we don’t see or run into very often. They are very athletic, they get high in the air and hit the ball really hard – it’s good to give them a different style of volleyball in a gauntlet of a tournament. We need kids healthy and able to compete at the end of it so we can know how durable we are.”

Following a tough two-week stretch to start the season, the Ladycats will compete in the Granbury Tournament and the Arlington Classic Tournament with tough pre-district foes such as Midlothian and Highland Park.