PHOTO: Matt Smith
BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
GARLAND – The Bulldogs magical and historic year came to a close on Saturday as McKinney North fell just short of the Class 5A Division 1 championship against Corpus Christi Flour Bluff 26-24, 15-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-10 at the Culwell Center.
Both teams were at UIL state for the first time in program history.
McKinney North ends with a 28-12 record
Flour Bluff finishes at 38-12.
Along with it being North’s first appearance at state, it was only the fourth for any school in McKinney ISD, joining Boyd (2011, 2012) and McKinney High (1990). The 2011 Boyd team is the only other that played in the title game, but the Broncos lost to Coppell.
There were eight ties in the final game, the last coming at 10-all when LSU beach commit Allyn Brewer got a kill. But that was all the Bulldogs would score as the Hornets ended the match with the five points to secure the title.
Margaret Croft was voted state champ for Flour Bluff with a 20-20 double-double of 28 kills and 20 digs. She added a 0.290 hitting percentage, one assists, two aces, two solo blocks and seven block assists.
Brewer led North with 18 kills and added 14 digs. Chloe Lewis and Anna Sayman chipped in 15 and 12, respectively followed by Kaitlyn Jefferson (7), Ayanna Moore (6) and Madison Trayler (6). Setters Jordan Kowallis and Malia McNeal combined for 50 assists and 22 digs.
A bright spot in the loss for the Bulldogs came from their star junior libero and Texas A&M commit Gabi Rodriguez. Along with seven assists, Rodriguez, the daughter of head coach Libby Rodriguez, finished with 43 digs – setting a new record across all classifications for most digs in a match at UIL state.
The previous overall record was 41 by Schulenburg’s Kieryn Adams in 2023. Rodriguez smashed the 5A record which was 29 by both Leander Rouse’s E’Ian McCall (2017) and Lovejoy’s Callie Kemohah (2019).
