Houston Area HS Previews: 5A – District 20

<p>The USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship (GJNC) has just ended and new national champions have just been crowned this past weekend in Indianapolis, but the prep volleyball community is already looking ahead to the start of the high school season.</p> <p>Over the next four months, prospects will store their club team uniforms in their closets and will represent their high schools with the goal of getting to the end of the year as the new state champions.</p> <p>The state of Texas has one of the largest high school seasons in the entire country with the University Interscholastic League (UIL) managing a tournament for public schools that features six divisions, 192 districts and as many as 1,207 high school teams.</p> <p>The start date for the 2022-2023 season is August 8 and between now and then, we’re previewing some of the districts located in the Houston area, highlighting their teams and most promising prospects.</p> <p>This time we’ll feature Division 5A – District 20:</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Fort Bend Kempner</strong></p> <p>The Lady Cougars from the Sugarland area competed in district 24 last season and ranked fifth with a campaign of eight wins and eight losses. With just two seniors graduating, the team seems to be in a good position to capitalize on the chemistry between talented players, such as outside hitters Samantha Sharer and Ruth Ochelli, middle blocker Brenna Casler and libero [player_tooltip player_id="186678" first="Sophie" last="ILAGAN"], who was among the best in the district.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Fort Bend Marshall</strong></p> <p>The Buffalos from Missouri City will certainly be looking for improvement after a 2021-2022 season in which they won just one of their 14 matches to rank eighth in the nine-team district 24. Juniors Miashonae Maeson (outside hitter) and Rikiyah Duncanson (libero) are among the players who can bring change to the team.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Fort Bend Willowridge</strong></p> <p>The Lady Eagles will also be looking to do better than they did last season, when they sat at the bottom of district 24 with one win in 15 matches. The departure of graduated leading scorer outside hitter Tyreanna Garrett will be a challenge, but Willowridge will be able to retain more of last year’s squad, including middle blockers Tahmiah Lawson and English Jackson and libero Destiny Lidell-Decarlo.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Fulshear</strong></p> <p>Few teams in the country would lose players such as Brielle Warren and Ava Underwood and remain strong, but the Chargers are one of them. The team that topped district 24 with 15 wins and just one loss has changed, but Brielle’s younger sister [player_tooltip player_id="179898" first="Bailey" last="Warren"] seems ready to inherit the role of carrying the team’s offense while libero [player_tooltip player_id="179896" first="Sydney" last="Black"] has emerged as one of the best class of 2025 defensive players in the entire state. Between [player_tooltip player_id="141118" first="Victoria" last="Powell"], Olivia Drayden and Rachel Nordt, the Chargers also have some interesting options in the middle.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Foster</strong></p> <p>The Lady Falcons from Richmond were the only team to challenge Fulshear, tying their 15-1 campaign to finish second in district 24. They will also miss key players in graduated outside hitter Kamryn Williams, middle blocker Elizabeth Waldrop and libero Eliana Zepeda, but have more than enough emerging talent to remain competitive in the form of setter Chloe Howard, middle blocker Jackie Onyechi, outside hitters Brooke Barnes and Koryn Johnson and libero Eden Fairfield.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Lamar Consolidated</strong></p> <p>Lamar Consolidated finished in a solid fourth place last season by winning nine of their 17 matches in district 24 but that result might be difficult to repeat after the team lost its three main scoring options in outside hitters Cassidy Drapela and Destinee Farris and middle blocker Morgyn Sheridan as well as starting setter Haley Rodriguez. Right side Brooke Morris and libero Ta’liya De Los Santos, who were both starters last season, will be key players for the Lady Mustangs this time.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Randle</strong></p> <p>A new program that first competed last season, Randle has taken an interesting approach in fielding only freshmen and sophomores in the team that represented the school out of Richmond in their inaugural campaign. That might have caused some problems with experience and maturity last season, but will also guarantee that players like Brooke Avery and Milaya Graves are more familiar with each other this season.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Terry</strong></p> <p>The seventh-place finishers of district 24 last season, the Lady Rangers won three of their 13 matches. The graduation of setter Jazilyn Davis and middle blocker Gloria Asabi will create problems for the team, which will need even more of the good defensive work made by libero Elizabeth Rodriguez and defensive specialist Mariana Erazo to compete with the best teams in the division.</p>