PHOTO: MATTHEW SMITH
BY BRIAN GOSSET
GARLAND – The saying goes, kill two birds with one stone – and on Friday, Eagle Mountain achieved that in the UIL Class 4A D2 state volleyball championship at the Culwell Center.
The Knights defeated defending champion Wimberley 25-15, 25-20, 22-25, 25-18 to capture their first title in just their second year of existence. Eagle Mountain is in the Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD, but holds a Fort Worth address.
Their win on Friday marked the first volleyball title for EMSISD as well as the first title for any school in the Fort Worth city limits. Boswell reached the state semifinals in 1969 for EMSISD, but Eagle Mountain was the first school from Fort Worth to even play in a championship game.
Eagle Mountain (38-11) wins the EMSISD’s third state title in the eight major team sports – joining Boswell girls basketball team from earlier this season as well as Boswell’s baseball team, which won a title in 1996.
Coach Catherine Foerster won her fifth state title, third as a coach since 2020. Foerster won as a player with Hereford in 1999 and 2001, and played at state in 2002 as a senior. She coached Hereford to the final four in 2019 and then won titles with Decatur in 2020 and 2021.
Foerster took over at Eagle Mountain when the HS opened in the fall of 2024.
In their first playoff run, the Knights lost to Canyon in the 4A D2 regional semifinals. This season, they beat Canyon 3-0 in the same round along with other playoff wins against FW Dunbar, Lubbock Liberty, Canyon Randall and Longview Spring Hill.
Setter Molly Aubert was voted state champ MVP with 44 assists, 12 digs, four aces, two kills and one block assist. Nebraska commit All-American Keoni Williams had a team-high 13 kills on 0.571 hitting while Texas A&M bound Brooke Lacewell added 11 kills and three block assists. Madie Haney chipped in 12 kills while Rylinn Roberts added 10. Lexi Nichols anchored the defense with 13 digs. Sophie Burdock finished with 10 digs.
*THE STORY WILL BE UPDATED*
