Photo: Matt Smith
BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
Plano Prestonwood wrapped up the season with its third straight TAPPS 6A state championship and leading the way was the #1 player in the country, Macaria Spears.
The daughter of former Dallas Cowboys player Marcus Spears, Cari finished with 649 kills and 6.2 kills per set. Prestonwood went 37-2 and won the state title 3-0 over San Antonio Antonian Prep. The Lions won their final 13 matches where they only dropped one set.
Spears was also among the DFW leaders with a 0.428 hitting percentage.
She had 18 kills in the state final and 26 against Plano John Paul II in the semifinals. Spears would finish her HS career with four state titles – adding one as a freshman in Virginia. Spears signed her national letter of intent with the Texas Longhorns.
Among the First-Team All-Americans:
Lovejoy sophomore Gentry Barker, who led the Leopards to the Region 2 championship in Class 5A Division 2. After winning 5A state champ MVP as a freshman, Barker posted 468 kills and 466 digs this season.
Colleyville Heritage senior Suli Davis, who wrapped up one of the all-time best careers with over 2,500 kills and 1,500 digs. Davis led the Panthers to the Region 1 championship in 5A D1 and a 36-7 record. Davis won a title with the Panthers in 2022 and went to the state semifinals last season. This year, the BYU commit and #2 ranked player in the country had 800 kills – fourth most in Texas and ninth in the nation. She averaged 6.6 per set and added 676 digs.
Byron Nelson junior Kylie Kleckner, who led the Bobcats to the 6A D2 state championship on Nov. 23 – the program’s second title. The Washington commit had 23 kills and hit 0.556 in a 3-0 sweep over Stratford and was voted state champ MVP. On the season, Kleckner posted career highs with 596 kills and a 0.363 hitting percentage.
Prestonwood senior Gillian Pitts, who finished with 472 digs. The Houston commit posted 39 digs in two state tournament games. On the season, Pitts only had four error on serve receive out of 169 attempts.
Byron Nelson sophomore Sophee Peterson, who was second in Texas with 1,477 assists. She posted 42 assists, 13 digs and five kills in the title game against Stratford. Peterson only committed 10 ball handing errors out of over 3,000 attempts.
Among the Second-Team All-Americans:
Byron Nelson junior AJ Seay, who had 20 kills and hit 0.486 against Stratford and was named to the 6A D2 state all-tournament team The Rice commit, who led the team in kills as a sophomore in 2023, finished this year with 488 kills and 315 digs.
Prestonwood senior Taylor Cook, who will continue her volleyball career at Kansas. The TAPPS District 2-6A Setter Of The Year finished the season with 1,092 assists and had 44 and 39 assists, respectively at the state tournament.
