Joust At The Net Column
By Chuck Licata, Big Daddy Media CEO/Volleyball Insider
As the two-year winning streak for the defending Class 6A, Division II state champion Byron Nelson Bobcats hit 66 (the Cats won their last 36 matches last season and have started 30-0 this year after Tuesday night’s victory at Southlake Carroll), one has to wonder: “Will this Byron Nelson team lose a match this season or go undefeated?”
Of course, no one will know that answer until either the Bobcats DO actually lose a match or finish off walk off the floor of the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland with their second consecutive state title.
CAN they lose a match? Well, certainly they can. That’s an obvious answer.
I got a chance to catch up with a VERY busy Bri Groth, the head coach of the Bobcats, for a quick Q&A.
Chuck Licata: Was there/is there pressure coming this season coming off last season’s state title run – and being named National Champions by Maxpreps?
Bri Groth: Of course there’s a lot of pressure coming off the title run especially when you are ranked in the nation and you end up being (named) the national champion. But I do believe that the target on our back has really helped us get better every single day. We don’t take for granted being on the court and we don’t take for granted being with each other every single day and trying to get one percent better is what we say. So, yes there is pressure, but the girls feel very confident in what they can do. So that kind of lessons the pressure when they know you know kind of what they’re capable of!
Do the girls think (or talk) about the undefeated season so far? I don’t think the girls really think of it too much. I think a lot of it is the media that surrounds us that talks about it a lot. So we know it’s there, but I think the girls are doing a really good job of not letting it affect who they are or how they go into matches with anybody that we play.
Have you personally experienced an undefeated season? I’ve never personally had an undefeated season, but during my junior and senior years in high school, we only lost one game both years. So close, but not an undefeated season.
From today moving forward – what’s your biggest challenge, besides the face you play in probably the toughest district in the state? I think the biggest challenge that we’re going to face is not settling and not getting complacent. A lot of really good teams get through middle of the season middle of district to get to the end of district and they start getting complacent. So, our goal is to continue getting 1% better so complacency can’t squeeze in.
Any other thoughts on the season so far? This group is so talented and such a great group of kids. We are really enjoying this year and making sure we don’t take any moment for granted. This group of girls loves each other, they’re selfless, they care and they’re such hard workers, they really make my job easy and so much fun. We just definitely don’t want the season to end because we are just enjoying it so much!
The Last Team to go undefeated was the 2020-21 Lovejoy Leopards. That team, under head coach Ryan Mitchell and assistant coach Natalie Puckett, finished 26-0 in the COVID season of Texas High School volleyball. I talked to Ryan the other day on the phone, and he can certainly what Groth and her Bobcats are going through.
“Maybe it was because of the COVID atmosphere we were going through back then,” Mitchell explained to me, “but we didn’t have the media focus or publicity Bri and her team is growing through today. And, of course, they’re coming off a state title year and then awarded the national championship by Maxpreps, so they entered this year with a target on their back.
“But back in 2020, I didn’t even think about our (undefeated) record, and no one really talked about it. I remember, one day as we were starting the playoffs, I looked up and realized, ‘Holy cow, we’re undefeated.’ And the players really hadn’t said anything about it at all.”
Mitchell continued: “Then when we became aware, it was like the (Golden Rule of Baseball) where no one wanted to jinx it by saying anything about it. When a pitcher has a no-hitter going, it’s understood among his/her teammates to NOT say anything to jinx it.
“It was the same way with us. We’d be having conversations and the players would say, ‘Coach, don’t say it! Don’t say it!”
Mitchell chuckled as he recalled that season – which the Leopards wrapped up with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-22) sweep of Fulshear in the Class 5A championship match.
