Fulshear bursts onto scene in 3rd season
Approximately 400 students walked through Fulshear High School’s doors when campus opened in 2016. Volleyball coach Sydney Gotcher remembers how exciting it was to have that number, even if the campus had only ninth and 10th graders at the time.
Two years later, it was home to just over 1,000 students. Next February’s University Interscholastic League district realignment will see the school jump from Class 4A to Class 5A in athletic competitions with approximately 1,400 students.
Born from the growth of the Fort Bend County community is the school’s first state tournament team and perhaps the Houston area’s next volleyball power.
Fulshear (43-4) has swept every set this postseason on the way to a Class 4A Region IV championship. The Lady Chargers are two wins from a state title, meeting Kennedale at 7 p.m. Thursday in the 4A state semifinals at Garland’s
Culwell Center.
“It’s kind of like if you play volleyball, it’s a good spot to look at,” said Gotcher, the program’s first coach who is originally from the San Antonio area and last coached at Kerrville Tivy. “The area’s growing so much, but then our program has been so successful so early. It’s been exciting to be a part of.”
Growth aside, Gotcher has had high expectations for this program since the day it started. She remembers football coach and athletics director Oschlor Flemming noting during the interview how quickly the program could find success considering the ingredients available.
Gotcher says the players have approached building the program the right way, too. Their first major test was overcoming two-time defending state champion Needville.
Fulshear split meetings with Needville in district play last year but fell in the regional final. This year, Fulshear swept Needville in more ways than one — in three matches without dropping a set on the way to a district title.
Gotcher said the competitiveness between the programs spilledover to social media and this became the school’s first rivalry, which was fun.
“Coming into this year, we knew we were young last year,” Gotcher said. “We knew we’d be better this year and we really talked about taking one game at a time, but Needville was kind of always in the back of our minds throughout the season, like ‘we have to get this done.’ ”
A pair of outside hitters in sophomore Alexis Dacosta (Baylor) and junior Ellie Etcher (LSU) already are committed to major college programs. Senior setter Brooklyn Dacosta — Alexis’ sister — and senior middle blocker Jalile Rodriguez are committed to Hill College. Another middle blocker, sophomore Skylar Voskuhl, is fielding Division I offers. Sophomore libero Ava Underwood has offers from Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas A&M on the table.
The talent is there in abundance, but Gotcher said this isn’t a group that will let you know it. It’s a grounded group whose five sweeps this postseason and 17 sweeps dating back to September come by way of a methodical approach. It’s a slow and steady style, unlike this program’s rise.
“We struggled some with starting a little slow each game, but it just never mattered because, one or two points at a time, we just stay calm and our methodical approach to everything paid off in the end,” Gotcher said. “Because we didn’t have to focus on the big picture and sweeping teams and all of that. We just did it one at a time.”