When the volleyball regular season ended in 2021, the Lady Chargers team was in an unfamiliar spot. Champion was on the outside looking in and missed the postseason for the first time in program history.
Chargers coach Jessica Tully-Mitchell said not making the playoffs and having their postseason streak snapped was hard to take – and added that it still bothers her almost a year later.
“I’m not past it and I don’t think the team is, especially for the girls who have been on varsity for a while because they’ve seen us make the playoffs. I want it to hurt, I don’t want it to be over because we can’t relax, especially with the teams in our district,” she said. “Everybody on the team knows it, I don’t know if you’d call it the elephant in the room but I brought it up (in the first match of the season) in a timeout. It made that memory come back and if we don’t want that to happen again, we have to change.”
The Chargers had a chance at the playoffs late into last year’s regular season but weren’t able to join the postseason party, mainly because the district was tough from top to bottom with three state-ranked teams and Tully-Mitchell said things aren’t much different this year even though they’re in a new district.
A look at the district
Included in District 26-5A is Champion, Veterans Memorial, Seguin, NB Canyon, Wagner, Pieper, Smithson Valley and Kerrville Tivy.
“ We lost Drip and Alamo Heights but we have Smithson Valley, Pieper and Wagner,” the coach said. “We lost two good ones but we gained about the same so I don’t feel that we lost a whole lot because it’s the same tough district.”
Because they didn’t make the playoffs in 2021, is making the postseason Tully-Mitchell’s top goal for the team this year?
“Definitely and I don’t want to be fourth, I want to be first,” she said. “I hope that we’re the underdog that comes up and surprises people.”
A look at the team
Champion is senior loaded and has 10 seniors on this year’s roster. Tully- Mitchell said having that many seniors adds a lot of experience to the team.
“We have a big group that has played highlevel club and it’s given them the experience of the speed of the game,” she said. “In practice, I can put somebody in and they’re going to be just as good as the other and that’s going to make us better.”
Seniors are Emma Wegleitner, Erin Fallon, Sadie Hoyt, Skye Conroy, Izzy Maszak, Lili Dunn, Kelsey Rogers, Addie Ratajski, Ashleigh Williams and Emersyn Koke.
Juniors are Gabriela Rossello, Erin Martin, Raylynn Pitts, Ryann Michalec and Cameryn Seaux, while Ella Coleman is the lone sophomore on the squad.
Besides being solid volleyball players, Tully- Mitchell said they’re just great girls.
“I have 10 seniors who have bought into my program, they’ve been loyal and nothing but the best kids all four years. They trust me and I trust them and we have a lot of fun and so there’s a lot of chemistry there,” she said. “I ask myself; would I trust them to be my baby sitter? And everyone I would trust them to go pick up my kids and be my baby sitter.
“They’re a great group of kids, you can ask any teacher on campus, they’re the best kids,” Tully- Mitchell continues. “They’re involved in everything and they’re the ones that are going to leave a legacy.”
Wegleitner, Rogers and Maszak will serve as team captains this year.
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