Birdville Volleyball came into the season looking to make a statement, last night, they added the exclamation point.

Birdville is in District 7-5A, arguably the toughest 5A district for high school volleyball in the state, housing the defending state champion Colleyville Heritage, Regional Finalists -Birdville, Regional Quarter Finalists Argyle and Grapevine. Argyle and Grapevine's state playoff dreams came to an end last year when they matched up against their district opponents for the third time, with Colleyville taking down Argyle and Birdville eliminating Grapevine. 

Tuesday night the Hawks faced off against the defending Texas State Champions on their turf. Last year Colleyville was 3-0 when facing Birdville. The Panthers never dropped a set, let alone a match. That changed Tuesday night. Birdville came out swinging, literally, winning the match 4-1.

 Set one and two were back and forth from the beginning, with the Hawks holding the lead the majority of the time. Birdville won both sets 25-22. Set three is when the reigning state champions seemingly showed up. Colleyville jumped out to a quick lead and never lost it. Birdville battled back, but could not pull off the sweep. The Panthers took set three with a score of 25-18. 

Set four was where the match and adrenaline ramped up. Colleyville continued their tear into the fourth set jumping out to a 7-3 lead and held the lead for the majority of the set....just not into the last point. Birdville started their surge around point 17 and never looked back. They were battling the Panthers point for point and took advantage of big moments. 24-22 Colleyville led, Birdville did not surrender. Birdville tied the score 24-24. To secure the win a team must win by 2 points. Colleyville won the next point making it 25-24 and putting a second set win just one point away. This would happen twice without Birdville succumbing to a loss. Birdville rallied 25-25, lost the next point making it 26-25. The Hawks received a sideout on a failed service attempt and decided that was the time to put away the game. After another point for the Hawks on a missed kill attempt, Teryjah Steward stepped up to serve what would end up being the final point of the match. Colleyville tried to spot the ball over for a quick point, but it was quickly batted back over by Abbi Parr. Another tip from the Panthers side had Makena Wharton scrambling to get the ball up, which she did seamlessly. There were 6 more volleys between teams, before T. Steward made a dig that placed the ball in perfect position for Parr to set up Gracyn Koerner for the final kill of the game. Hawks won 28-26, taking the match and the win back to Birdville. 

With a total team win, the Hawks took sole possession of second place in district with only one match left in the first round. The team totaled 54 kills, a 2.1 receiving rate and 10 aces throughout the 4 sets.  Hannah Gabbard came off the bench in a crucial moment with limited touches still had a 2.5 receiving rate. Misha Jones was a force flying around the court with 39 digs. G. Koerner had a night with 11 kills, the last one sealing the win for the Hawks. Parr was a cornerstone player for the night. She had a double double with 42 assists and 12 digs. Two more double doubles came from the Steward duo.  Lyric Steward and T. Steward were next to unstoppable as they combined for 33 kills, hitting .345 and .435 respectively. L. Steward recorded 12 digs and T. Steward tallied 17. 

In a slaughter district, Birdville is one to watch out for. Hawks take on the Lake Dallas Falcons this Friday night at 6:30 pm to round out their first round, then start it all over again. Hawks are currently 6-1 and honing in on securing their playoff position. 

Til Next Time, 

Go Hawks!

September 28, 2023