PHOTO: MATTHEW SMITH
BY BRIAN GOSSET
Byron Nelson, the #1 team in the nation, was down 23-19 in the second set against Cy Ranch on Saturday during the Class 6A D1 state semifinals. The Bobcats called a timeout, refocused and scored the last six points to steal the set 25-23, on their way to a sweep of the Mustangs.
However, head coach Brianne Groth wasn’t the one that called a timeout.
She wasn’t even in her normal set – the first chair on the bench closest to the net.
Groth missed the last three matches (Cy Ranch, Plano East, Allen) while on maternity leave. Early last week, she gave birth to beautiful twin girls.
Byron Nelson (41-0) takes on Pearland Dawson (42-5) in the 6A D1 title match at 4 pm Saturday from Garland’s Culwell Center. Groth will resume normal head coaching duties.
In her place during the last three games was assistant coach Chrissy Garcia, who has been with Groth for the past six seasons.
Funny enough, both Groth and Garcia were pregnant this season.
Garcia will give birth a month or two after Saturday’s game.
“Bri is the success of this program. She is the reason why we’re successful,” Garcia said. “The last six years, we’ve established such a good friendship and relationship, and she has given me a lot of say in what we do with our team. It never felt like it was just Bri making the decisions – we’ve done it together and the girls know that too.
“It felt pretty seamless and we had talked about our mentality and how it’s been the same going in. We knew that this was going to happen, it was a matter of when. Bri has given me the confidence to step in and do what she does everyday.”
Garcia was on the 2016 Cedar Park team that finished as 5A runner-up.
She was assistant to former Grapevine coach Kori Cooper.
Byron Nelson has won 77 straight matches. The Bobcats went 40-1 last season capped with the 6A D2 championship over Houston Stratford. A win on Saturday and Byron will become the second UIL team in the largest class to win back-to-back titles while dropping just one match in two years.
https://twitter.com/Gosset41/status/1989846029772918811
