On Friday, November 10, the Lady Mustangs played in the TAPPS 4A State Semi-Final game against Grace Prep. The Mustangs started off in a close first set, but fell short losing 23-25. In set two, the Lady Mustangs came back strong and used their aggressive serves to win the set 25-9. Senior Allie Stephenson led the team in aces with a total of four. The Lady Mustangs continued to play aggressive to win the third set 25-21. In set four, Grace Prep gained momentum and won the set 14-25. In set five, both teams played point for point, but Grace Prep had a four point run pulling ahead and the Mustangs couldn’t catch up finishing the Mustangs season with with a score of 9-15. Senior Sky Miller led the team in kills with a total of 14 followed by senior Kaylin Starling with a total of 11 kills. Starling also lead the team in blocking with a total of 7 blocks. When Miller was asked about how MCA’s volleyball team hasn’t been in the state tournament since 2018 and what made this team different, Miller said, “This year’s volleyball team is a very special group. This team has incredible resilience and drive and is always looking to grow and improve. We always made it a focus to have good energy, attitude and effort on the court and when we had this our team thrived. Rather than playing for ourselves as individuals this season, we all played for God and each other. I believe that is what brought us immense success this season.” When Starling was asked how did the team prepare mentally and fundamentally she said, one of the greatest blessings we got this year to help our team mentally was Carly Truesdale. our sports psychologist. She was able to work with us on our mental game both on and off the court in ways we have never gotten to before. In addition to mental training, we spent hours on the court working fundamental drills and individual positionals to fine tune our game before Friday. By combining that with plenty of film reviews on Grace Prep, we walked into the gym prepared to play on the 11th!” Overall the Lady Mustangs finished 29-5 and 14-0 in district.
