Experience is the clearest advantage McKinney High has heading into a new volleyball season in a new district. Nine of the 13-player roster are returning players and seven of that nine are seniors, with two sophomore returners who made varsity as freshman rounding out the count.

“I definitely have high expectations,” said head coach Jennifer Bishop, who is in her third year with the program. “I’m looking forward to a successful season. I really think these seven seniors deserve it. They work their hearts out for me.”

Those seniors include Caitlin Roberts, Kayla Rivero, Amber Lowman, Lucy Keyworth, Julie Gore, Ashley Bennett and Callie Embry. The sophomore returners are Karmen Jackson and Anna Robertson. New to the team are juniors Allison Carlton, Maddy Mead and freshman Erin Hoppe.

Though few changes have taken place on the Lady Lions side of the court, district play will introduce a new set of opponents. UIL realignment earlier in the year moved McKinney into District 10-4A where it will face Highland Park, McKinney North, J.J. Pearce, Rockwall, Rockwall-Heath, Wylie and Wylie East.

Bishop said that in Highland Park and J.J. Pearce they have to face two of the best 4A programs in the state. Pearce in particular has already won the Duncanville tournament, one of the top competitions in Texas volleyball.

In three years on varsity, Bennett said she’s played many of the new district teams in tournaments before. Additionally, McKinney has been watching the group since the new season began and saw Pearce play recently.

Rivero said 10-4A has a lot of big players and she expects a quick pace during games.

“It’s a different type of volleyball than we’re used to,” she said. “You need to start fast to win.”

To get ready for the district season, Bishop has stocked the Lady Lions’ early schedule with quality teams from larger schools, such as Plano West and Allen. Currently, her team has a split record, 8-8, but the most pressing concern isn’t about win streaks.

“The whole preseason in my mind is practice,” Bishop said. “Practice for district. So I set them up with opponents that I feel will prepare them for district. To beat the best you have to play the best.”

Bishop characterized her team as more defensive minded than it’s been in the past, something she’s been working on since taking over the program. Still needing improvement, she said, is her players’ commitment to attacking the ball and consistency on serve-receive.

“We all have different strengths and weaknesses, so the biggest part was trying to level everything out,” Rivero said.

The overriding goal for the season is to make playoffs, but before that point are smaller goals Rivero and Bennett articulated such as improving even further defensively and staying committed to each play. If the team achieves these smaller goals, Bishop feels certain that bigger objectives are possible.

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