It was going to be a long night. The entire gym, packed with enthusiastic fans donning purple and blue knew it. The parents, who found themselves on the edge of their seats before the two teams had even shook hands, knew it. The volleyball teams and coaches of McCallum and LBJ sure knew it too.

This summer, a streak of wins at the Jason Landers tournament pitted Mac against rivals LBJ in a tightly contested match before school had even started. After a hard fought game taken to the last possible set, the Varsity Volleyball team had claimed the victory for McCallum.

When the two teams faced off again last Friday, McCallum was able to win for a second time.

In Friday’s rematch, the two teams played again under even higher stakes. Not only was it the first game of the district season, but the Knights had to defend their previous win and protect their home turf. Everyone was looking to prove themselves against LBJ once again, and even though the last game had been a success, the Knights knew this time still wouldn’t be easy.  

The first set proved the team right. Both teams fought for points in a frantic back and forth that took the set past game point. LBJ eventually pulled ahead to win the game by two, leaving the first set lost 30-28 to LBJ.

Despite the loss of the first set, the varsity picked it up during the second and third sets, winning both 25-18 and 24-16. All McCallum needed to do was win the fourth set to defeat the Jaguars for the second time this season, but LBJ wasn’t going down without a fight.

The fourth set went LBJ’s way, but not before McCallum stormed back from an 11-point deficit early on to make it close. The set ended with a second set win from LBJ 25-20, which would forced the match into a tie-breaking fifth set.

One more set to go, the outcome still in doubt, yet the varsity volleyball team was already proud of its game.  

“We still lost [the fourth set] but to come back and it be only a five-point difference felt amazing,” head coach Amy Brodbeck said about her team’s resilience despite losing the set. “I knew then that my girls were never going to give up; they were going to fight for it.”

The varsity entered the last set in commanding fashion and were able to crush LBJ 15-6, ending the night with a second come-from-behind victory over their rivals and a 1-0 start to the district season.

“Everything that could have gone right went right in the last set,” senior libero Lindsey Wiley said after the game. “We had been up and down, not only in the set but in the whole game, but we were able to come back. It feels amazing.”

For Coach Brodbeck, the highlight of the night was her team’s tenacity and technical strength, even when the Knights were behind.

“Everybody was just doing fantastic.” Broadbeck added. “The passes were getting there, the sets were there. Everyone had errors, but we just came together, and it seemed to work. It was a team effort.”

When the varsity team came together for the last huddle of the night, the gym was still abuzz with energy.

“Everybody was super excited and pumped up.” Brodbeck said.” I basically told them, ‘Great job, I love you all; we’re 1-0 in district, lets go get ’em!” 

The varsity team weren’t the only ones to defeat LBJ on Friday as all three subvarsity team’s all defeated the Jaguars: a four-on-the-floor perfect sweep for the night. 

The junior varsity, much like the varsity, got off to a rough start. After losing the first set 25-19, the team was able to recover to dominate the last two, 25-19 and 25-15, to win the match, 2-1.

A gym over, the freshman A team also beat LBJ, 2-1, winning the first set, 25-17, losing the second, 21-25, and brawling it out in the third to win, 25-20.

The freshman B team not only beat one of McCallum’s biggest district rivals, but also won its first game of the season, and accomplished all of this in straight sets.

“I was so excited to finally win a game, and I’m proud of all my teammates in tonight’s game.” freshman Audrey Racine said.

Even though the team is still savoring their victory four days later, Varsity head coach Brodbeck still feels that there is a lot more work to be done before the Knights move on to play the rest of the teams in the district.

“I want to be able to try and beat [Dripping Springs],” Brodbeck said. “That is a goal that I have, and I know it’s a goal that my girls have. I want to keep that willingness to never give up, and that willingness to improve. Improving each step of the way is going to get us there.”

In addition to our story, we are pleased to make the volleyball teams four-match sweep of the Jags our #TuesdayTop10 photo essay. In looking through our images, we may have gotten a little carried away and included a few more behind the required 10. We are pretty sure when you see them, you won’t mind. Photos by Lily Dashner, Bella Russo, Winston Pham, Gabby Sherwood, Maeve Walsh

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