Byron Nelson earns UIL volleyball state title, top national ranking

November 23, 2024

The Byron Nelson Bobcats earned the 2024 UIL 6A Division II Volleyball State Championship with a dominant three-set sweep of the Houston Stratford Spartans at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland on November 30, capping the season with a top national ranking.

With the victory, the Bobcats finished their season with a 40-1 record and a remarkable run in the playoffs where they didn’t drop a single set. In the championship game, the Bobcats quickly defeated the Spartans with set victories of 25-20, 25-13 and 25-14. During the season, the team only dropped eight sets all year, and the Bobcats finished the year having not dropped a set in nearly two months.

“It’s a testament that we didn’t lose a set in the playoffs. That in itself is so hard to do, especially in 6A,” Coach Brianne Groth said after the match. “This group is so special. This has to be my favorite group, not only because they are extremely talented and skilled, but because they are just great humans, and they are great teammates and they put others first.”

While the first set of the match was the closest, the Bobcats remained dominant throughout their three-set sweep, as they have all season. Stratford briefly held a one-point lead midway through the first set before Byron Nelson went on a strong run they continued throughout the match. Hitting proved to be a major component in the Bobcats' victory, as the team hit .485 on kill attempts during the match, compared to Startford's .163.

The Spartans faced an uphill challenge in the second and third sets, as the Bobcats regularly went on streaks punctuated with spikes that seemed impossible to counter, emphasizing the disparity in kills. Byron Nelson peaked its hitting in the middle set with an enormous .571 hitting on kill attempts.

Junior Kylie Kleckner earned MVP honors of the championship match, finishing with 23 kills and nine digs. Additional standout performances for the Bobcats included senior Ashlyn Seay with 20 kills and nine digs, and sophomore Sophee Peterson with 42 assists and 13 digs. Kylie has committed to continue her playing career for the University of Washington Huskies, while Ashlyn has committed to play volleyball for the University of Rice Owls.

Kylie said a primary reason the Bobcats won the championship comes from a strong desire to always play for one another and never give up on a single set. The top national ranking served as a “cool title,” she said, but it represented just a singular statistic that didn’t matter if the team didn’t win the state championship.

“We’ve also talked a lot about grit,” she said in the post-match press conference. “Pushing hard even when we’re not playing our best, and I think that really shows that we're a team that doesn’t want to drop a set. We’re doing everything we can to play our best all the time.”

The Bobcats remained atop the MaxPreps national rankings since the first week of October, finishing the season with the top ranking in the nation. Only one other Texas team has earned the season-ending top volleyball ranking from MaxPreps, when The Woodlands earned the honor in 2013. During the season, the Bobcats won two matches against top-25 opponents in the nation and 12 of their 40 victories came against teams ranked in the national top 100. Byron Nelson began the season with a strong showing at the Ann Kang Invitational in Hawaii, winning the annual volleyball tournament with top national competition.

Byron Nelson High School previously won the volleyball state title in 2019, and this year’s championship means the volleyball program joins the school’s cheerleading program as the only Northwest ISD programs with multiple UIL state championships. The Bobcats will look to defend their title next year, as they lose just one starter to graduation.