Second time’s the charm
Volleyball teams start district play with a four-match sweep of arch-rival LBJ; varsity beats Jags for second time this season
Senior Lindsey Wiley, sophomore Sophia Henderson and junior Liana Smoot celebrate a kill from junior Shaine Rozman. Photo by Bella Russo.
September 11, 2018
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.
I knew then that my girls were never going to give up; they were going to fight for it.
— Head coach Amy Brodbeck
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.
Everything that could have gone right went right in the last set.
— Senior libero Lindsey Wiley
“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 was so excited to finally win a game, and I’m proud of all my teammates in tonight’s game.
— Freshman Audrey Racine
“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
JV jubilation
Block party
Hall pass
Junior achievement
Wilson and Wilson
Killer instinct
A perfect 10
To serve at love
A Claire winner
3 is the Magic Number
A building block
Third-set Timeout
The Freshman's Fight
Building a wall
Volleyball Victory
B team triumph
Fresh Sets
All that Jaz
A team win
Shoulder to shoulder
Having a ball
Huddle up
![A PRIDE-FUL WEEK OF CELEBRATION:
As part of AISDs week-long celebration of PRIDE, students of the McCallum Spectrum Club worked to create a week full of activities, prizes and helping hands to support the schools LGBTQ+ community. The club is widely available for anyone to join, and specializes in creating a safe space for students to share and give advice. While Pride month itself isn’t until June, AISD designates one week in March to celebrate and commemorate the importance of this part of the student body.
As part of the week of festivities, the club held a booth in the front hall handing out pride stickers, pins and merch to passers by. For junior Zane Joly, the booth idea was brought up as a way for students to engage with one another, and connect with the community.
“I call out to people in the halls, ‘hey, do you want stickers?’” Joly said. “We just give out free pride stickers and sometimes other free pride merch to the students of Macallum because everybody likes pride stickers.”
While the week itself is packed with a variety of different activities, the overall goal is to bring students closer together and create a safer environment for self expression at McCallum.
“The idea for the student panel largely came from the black [history] student panel that is done during Black History Month,” Joly said. “And the idea for giving out free stuff was developed at Spectrum last year.”
Joly is not only a member of the Spectrum club, but also holds a leadership position giving them a more hands-on role with the projects and Pride Week activities.
“McCallum has a very high queer population,” Joly said. “I think Its nice that we get a chance to celebrate Pride because Pride Month is during the summer, and I think its just a nice thing for the community and getting to just celebrate it.”
While the merch table at lunch was only a small part of the numerous parts of McCallum’s Pride week, for Joly this small impact made all the difference.
“The purpose of Pride is to make people not feel alone and to make them feel safe,” Joly said. “The goal is [to make people] happy about a part of themselves that theyre often conditioned to not feel good about.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Shila Gill.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/53597258192_6e7168d8ae_o-1-600x338.jpg)
![BACKGROUND IN THE BUSINESS: Dressed by junior designer Kaitlyn Gerrie, senior Chamila Muñoz took to the “Dreamland” runway this past weekend. While it was her first time participating in the McCallum fashion show, Muñoz isn’t new to the modeling world.
I modeled here and there when I was a lot younger, maybe five or six [years old] for some jewelry brands and small businesses, but not much in recent years,” Muñoz said.
Muñoz had hoped to participate in last year’s show but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. For her senior year, though, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
“It’s [modeling] something I haven’t done in a while so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone in a way,” Muñoz said. “I always love trying new things and being able to show off designs of my schoolmates is such an honor.”
The preparation process for the show was hectic, leaving the final reveal of Gerrie’s design until days before the show, but the moment Muñoz tried on the outfit, all the stress for both designer and model melted away.
“I didn’t get to try on my outfit until the day before, but the look on Kaitlyn’s face when she saw what she had worked so hard to make actually on a model was just so special,” Muñoz said. “I know it meant so much to her. But then she handed me a blindfold and told me I’d be walking with it on, so that was pretty wild.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/53535098892_130167352f_o-600x400.jpg)
Lily Dashner • Oct 5, 2018 at 2:17 pm
I really like how the girls work together as one. They have a goal and work toward it, and make the dream happen. All the girls give each other respect and make the dream happen as one. Keep going! Rock on!