PHOTO: Matt Smith
BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
GARLAND – Total domination – that’s the only two words acceptable to describe the volleyball season for the Byron Nelson Bobcats. 40 wins and 1 loss. Only eight – yes EIGHT sets dropped all year long. Having dominated every team in the playoffs coming into Saturday’s championship match, it was the same tale as Byron Nelson rolled by Houston Stratford 25-20, 25-13, 25-14 at the Culwell Center.
The Bobcats won the Class 6A Division 2 title – their second in program history. They also won the 6A title in 2019, which was the last time a school from DFW won state in the largest classification.
Head coach Brianne Groth won her fifth title in her storied volleyball career. Along with the two at Byron Nelson, she won with Lovejoy as an assistant and two as an All-American setter while playing for mother/coach Jan Barker at Amarillo High.
Junior Washington commit Kylie Kleckner was voted state champ MVP with 23 kills and a 0.556 hitting percentage with nine digs. Rice commit AJ Seay added 20 kills on a 0.486 clip and nine digs and Syndee Peterson chipped in seven kills in her final game. She will play at Rice.
Younger sister sophomore Sophee Peterson finished with 42 assists, 13 digs and five kills. Kaitlyn Francis added eight digs and seven assists, and the Bobcats hit a whopping 0.485 as a team – going 0.485, 0.571 and 0.429 in consecutive sets.
On the year, the Bobcats only allowed two sets in District 4-6A – which Groth called the toughest in the state during the post game conference. Byron Nelson didn’t drop a set in its final 13 matches.
