Fulshear volleyball continues to prove people wrong

The Chargers have been impressive en route to 6A semifinals

Fulshear coach Sydney Zimmerman discusses strategy with her team during a timeout in their regional final victory over Cinco Ranch, on Friday. / Dennis Silva II

Fulshear volleyball coach Sydney Zimmerman had something to say to anybody willing to listen leading up to her team’s regional final last Friday.

The Chargers were not only going to win, Zimmerman said. But win in three sets.

They would sweep their way to state.

“We try to speak it into existence,” Zimmerman said after her team ousted last year’s Class 6A state finalist Katy Cinco Ranch 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-18) in the Class 6A-Division I Region III final at the Merrell Center in Katy. “I told a couple of people today we were going to win in three. I know that’s talking big, because Cinco is so great and they’re so well-coached, but I just believe in our girls. As a team, I just knew we could.”

They did.

For the second straight season, Fulshear, located on the western edge of the Houston metropolitan area, is a regional champion. This year, however, the Chargers own a regional title in Class 6A, having moved up to Texas’ largest classification after competing in Class 5A the last four years.

Fulshear is 38-6 and plays Austin Westlake in the state semifinals Tuesday at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin.

Fulshear, which entered the regional final ranked fifth in 6A-DI in the state by the Texas Girls Coaches Association, has won 15 straight games. Cinco Ranch, which finished its season 35-6 and had lost 16 sets, total, all season prior to meeting Fulshear, was ranked No. 1 in 6A-DI.

“We knew they were going to fight,” senior outside hitter and Wake Forest signee Bailey Warren said. “They have a lot of seniors. We have 12 seniors. This is a really special group, and we just didn’t want it to end here.”

Fulshear knew it would be moving up to Class 6A around this time last year when snapshot numbers revealed an enrollment of almost 3,000 students.

But the Chargers are accustomed to climbing the proverbial ladder and finding immediate success.

In 2019, they won the Class 4A state championship. The next season, their first in 5A, they made the state championship match.

Fulshear made the 5A state semifinals last year. Now it is headed back to the state semis in 6A-Division I. This is the first year the University Interscholastic League, the state’s governing body for high school athletics, split each of its classifications into divisions, big-school DI and small-school DII.

“I just think our kids thrive in that situation,” said Zimmerman, the inaugural head coach for a program that opened in 2016. “They wanted to come out and prove something. When we moved from 4A to 5A, we felt it was something big to prove. Moving from 5A to 6A was kind of the same thing.”

Fulshear, which saw its enrollment jump from 2,133 in the 2022 UIL realignment to 2,925 in this year’s, handled the transition in stride.

“A lot of people were saying it was going to be hard; we knew it was going to be hard,” Warren said. “So we just came out with a tough mentality, knowing we had to fight for it.”

Zimmerman scheduled a hellacious non-district slate, opening the season against Grand Oaks, the 2023 Class 6A state champion. Fulshear won, 3-1.

The Chargers’ early schedule also included Stratford, which will play in this week’s 6A-DII state semifinals; Friendswood, an undefeated district champion; Ridge Point, an undefeated district champion; Pearland, a district champion; Clear Springs, a district champion; and perennial regional powers Bridgeland, Seven Lakes and Tompkins.

“It prepared us for this point, and it just felt like they loved it all year,” Zimmerman said. “It never felt like we were scared or backed down from it. We were always going one at a time and looking ahead to this moment.”

Her players adapted accordingly.

“We had a work-hard mindset,” senior setter Alexys James said. “We kind of locked in and talked to each other through it and came to the conclusion that we have to play hard, we have to play intense, we have to play together. I think that’s what’s been carrying us through the playoffs.”

Schematically, Zimmerman added some wrinkles.

“We have the same people but we’ve switched some little stuff up,” Warren said. “We started running more things this year with me in the middle, different plays. Staying low error. Trying to outsmart other teams, knowing that they play at a high level so we’ve got to bring up our level.”

Fulshear is undersized compared to most 6A teams, and it’s particularly glaring as it gets deeper into the postseason. Only one Charger stands taller than 6-feet.

However, what they do have is athleticism and quickness in spades. From the front row to the back, they are fast to balls, light on their feet and almost always seem one step ahead of the competition.

Because of personnel, Fulshear is aggressive and persistently puts pressure on opposing clubs. The Chargers can be susceptible to errors because of that penchant, but, more often than not, they overwhelm teams on the other side of the net early and often in matches.

“We think with athleticism,” Zimmerman said. “The athleticism is maybe what puts us over teams who are bigger than us, and the girls have the mindset that they’re going to battle whoever it is on the other side.”

They also have experience—seven Chargers played in all three sets of last year’s state semifinal loss to eventual state champion Lucas Lovejoy—and depth.

Against Cinco Ranch, the dynamic Warren had 16 kills, including seven in the closeout third set.

“She’s so fun to watch,” Zimmerman said of Warren, who averages 4.9 kills and 2.9 digs per set, with a .309 hitting percentage. “You’re never worried about her in big moments. You just know she’s going to step up, and she did.”

Sophomore Arayah Watson had 11 points and authored the winning point on every set. James, a versatile talent and Howard University signee who is just as comfortable setting up Warren as she is blocking at the net, had nine points.

Senior right side hitter Lauren Witte, a Dallas Baptist University signee, and junior middle Daisy Voskuhl each had eight points. Senior libero Sydney Black, a Colorado State signee, was masterful along the back row, attacking every inch of open floor and sacrificing her body for balls.

All but Voskuhl played last year’s state semifinal.

“I think the playoff experience helps them, having done that before,” Zimmerman said. “They don’t get on a big stage and lose their minds.”

All throughout the spring and summer, even into the early days of preseason play, Fulshear heard the whispers.

“Just wait until they get to 6A.”

But the skeptics did not induce trepidation. They buoyed inspiration.

“It was motivation,” James said. “Everyone saying how they didn’t know how we’d do and all this stuff, we took that and took it to practice. That’s what helped pull us through. Our team thrives off what other people say about us.

“We love to prove people wrong.”