Championship run reignites legacy

Row the boat.

It was a seemingly one-off statement in a team meeting over the course of a season, but it stuck. The intent was to encourage the team to keep their heads down and row. Forget about mistakes and play together as a team. It then evolved into much more.

“A championship is a ‘ship,’” Head Volleyball Coach Stephanie Barthels said. “And they were rowing towards it.”

While the Texans were often ranked high, they were not favorites to make it to the 4A UIL State Finals.

Wimberley knew they had a tall challenge in front of them, both literally and figuratively. The Decatur Eagles won the 2018 State Championship. Many of the girls standing across the net had already been there before including Southern Methodist University commit Trinity Vinzant, a five-foot, 11-inch outside hitter. All of this in the cavernous Curtis Culwell Center, where a socially distant yet raucous crowd awaited. Wimberley was well represented.

“The atmosphere and all of it is so much,” Head Volleyball Coach Stephanie Barthels said. “It is exciting. It is scary. It is unique.”

They weren’t supposed to be in the championship game, and yet there they were. It is a testament to what can happen when a team begins rowing on the same beat.

“I just hope these girls learned to keep on rowing the boat,” Barthels said following a loss to Decatur in three sets in the championship game on Saturday.

Decatur started off the first series hot going on a 7-0 run to go up 7-1 over Wimberley. The Texans cut the lead back to 10-7, but another run by Decatur, this time 8-1, essentially sealed the first set. They would go on to win 13-25. It was a similar story for the second set.

Wimberley again fought hard with Decatur as the two teams traded points. After a service error by the Eagles, Wimberley trailed 9-6. Another tough battle saw the Texans trail by 12-8 following a kill by Ava Kientz, but the Eagles soon went on a 7-1 run to take a 19-9 lead. Wimberley dropped the second set 12-25.

The third set turned into another tough early battle as the Wimberley Texans fought hard against the tough Decatur front. After a kill by Brina Jones, Wimberley trailed 8-6.

A 6-0 run by the Eagles put Decatur up 14-6. The Eagles then pushed the Texans to their breaking point at 20-13. But when pushed to the limit, the Texans decided to keep rowing. They did not give in and fought back to make the game 23-18. However, Decatur shut the door on the Texans’ comeback and won the third set 25- 19 to capture the 4A State Championship.

Paige Crawford led the team in kills with eight and was named to the State Championship All-Tournament team.

The Wimberley Texans finish the season with a 30-5 record with the team advancing to the State Tournament for the first time since 2010.

Wimberley has a history of championship volleyball with six state titles, and Barthels is hoping that this is just the first step in bringing that history back to the forefront. Both the junior varsity and freshman teams were very successful this year meaning there might be a pipeline of talent to continue this path back to greatness. If it happens, it will be because seven seniors decided to row against the current.

“Those seniors are something special,” Barthels said. “I’ve never seen a group of 17 year olds care so much about other people… We’ve got kids that are sophomores and juniors, and the seniors took them under their wings at practice, on bus rides and at dinners. They are like family. I think that is the number one reason we were so successful. The seniors held everyone as accountable as they held themselves.”

Box Score

State Championship

Top Stats

Kills: Crawford 8, Jones 7, Hardwood 5

Blocks: Davis 3, Crawford 2

Assists: McFarland 11, Detmer 8, Masur 2