PHOTO: Matt Smith
BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
GARLAND – Clark Oberle was coaching in a state title match with his third different school, but his quest for another ring and Boyd’s first came up short on Friday in the Class 3A Division 2 championship against Stockdale as the Lady Brahmas won 29-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21.
Boyd ends the year with a 37-5 record.
It was the program’s third state appearance overall, but first since 2018.
The Yellowjackets had an opportunity to take the first set, but Stockdale (33-12) rallied back to win in deuce. Boyd managed to turn a slow start around when it trailed 7-1 leading to a timeout from Oberle.
But the Jackets came back with a 10-4 run that tied it at 11 with kills from Cami McIntire, Austin Etter and several errors by the Brahmas. From there it was the first of 10 ties in the first set. Boyd finally took its first lead at 15-14 on an ace by Kallie Harlin and then 16-14 on a kill by Addy Delgado.
Stockdale came back to even it at 20 before Boyd owned set point at 24-21.
But Boyd couldn’t close it out as the Brahmas killed off three consecutive set points and then had three for themselves. The Jackets were able to keep the game going with three kills by Delgado that tied it every time.
Finally Stockdale got kills from LeAnn Wise and Joslynn West to close it out.
The second set went neck and neck early on before Boyd got up 12-7 with a kill and ace from Emma Rosier. A Delgado kill made it 14-10 and then 15-11 on a block combo by Etter and McIntire. An ace from Delgado pushed it to 18-14 and two kills from McIntire and Jalynn Starnes extended the lead to 20-15.
Kills by Delgado and Starnes, and Boyd led 22-16.
The Jackets had set point at 24-19 before Stockdale scored four straight to cut it to one – as it started to feel like the first set. But after a timeout from Oberle, Boyd came back and Rosier set up Delgado in the middle to finish it off at 25-23.
Boyd rallied back early in the third to take an 8-7 lead on a Harlin kill. Stockdale took back the lead and held onto it until the Jackets got ahead 15-14 on back to back aces from McIntire. But after the Brahmas led 17-16, Boyd never led again. Wise got three straight kills to help Stockdale grab a 2-1 edge in the match.
Boyd’s largest deficit in the fourth set was 17-10, but the Jackets pulled within two points several times. However, they never were able to tie it as Stockdale closed it out on the arm from Wise, who set a UIL record across all classifications.
Wise, a 6-1 sophomore outside, posted 47 kills, a 0.331 hitting percentage, 11 digs, five aces and five assists – while being voted the state champ MVP. She set the record for most kills in a single match for any UIL state game (any class) all time. The previous mark was 40 by Brooklyn Jaeger from 1A Fayetteville in 2021. The previous 3A record was 31 by Skylar Allen from Callisburg in 2017.
Boyd hit 0.253 as a team and was led by Delgado’s 23 kills and 10 digs on a 0.383 clip. McIntire added a triple double with 12 kills on a 0.323 clip, 20 assists and 10 digs. Bryleigh Wallace had a team-high 26 digs and Rosier – in her final HS game – finished with a near triple double of 21 assists, 18 digs and eight kills.
Oberle has coached for over 30 years with over 750 wins. He took Argyle to state four times – winning in 2015, and also won a title in 2018 with Decatur.
