San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Newest high school has its first serve in volleyball
Newest school starts inaugural season
Harlan volleyball coach Monica Gonzales emerged from a door on the lower level of Taylor Field House on Tuesday evening, a tote bag and a handbag draped over each shoulder.
Twilight was descending into dusk as Gonzales made her way up some stairs, but the celebration was only beginning. There was applause from parents and fans. There was a commemorative game ball marking the Hawks’ 25-22, 26-24, 25-11 season-opening win over MacArthur — the first in school history.
This was the moment Gonzales envisioned a year ago when she was building from scratch a program at Northside ISD’s newest high school. This was also what the anxiety of the previous hours was about.
“I was more nervous today than my first varsity match when I was at Brennan or Fox Tech,” Gonzales said, referring to previous coaching stints. “I wanted (a win) for them so bad.”
The landmark triumph was an exclamation point to a whirlwind week that saw Gonzales and her staff conduct two days of tryouts, decide rosters for the varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams, compete in a round-robin scrimmage and play in their first match.
Seven days. A lifetime of memories.
Taking flight
It is 7 a.m. Aug. 1, a Wednesday, and the sun peaks through clouds as a steady stream of cars navigate a parking lot at Harlan High School.
One by one, teenage girls scurry through two glass doors, turn left down a hallway and into the first of two gymnasiums. It is the first day the UIL, the governing body of extracurricular activities in Texas, allows high school volleyball teams to conduct preseason workouts.
For Harlan — which joined Southwest Legacy and Veterans Memorial as schools this year playing in their inaugural varsity campaign — it is the beginning of its existence, a chance for 86 students to chase a dream of earning a spot into the volleyball program.
Gonzales has been at the school since about 6 a.m., and now is wearing out a path between the training room, her office and gymnasium. She stops to greet a few parents, but her focus is on making sure things are in order.
Then, a buzzer sounds. Si-
lence ensures. Players gather and sit in a circle on one end of the court, their eyes trained on Gonzales. It’s 7:30 a.m.
It’s time to get to work.
The start of Harlan’s first varsity season was underway. There were stretching and conditioning exercises. Some players, hands on hips, were hunched over. Others leaned against a wall in a time-honored display of fatigue.
“Keep pushing,” Gonzales employed. “When it’s hard, you can’t give up.”
A water break followed, and during the intermission, Alexis Cuellar, one of three seniors on varsity, laid on the court and wondered to a teammate if she might regret not eating breakfast.
More conditioning drills followed, giving way to hitting, setting, passing and serving drills.
“Win this rep,” Gonzales shouted. “Don’t save anything.”
It is 10 a.m., and the first practice in Harlan’s history is over. The players have two hours before they return for a second session, which consisted of more conditioning drills and skill work.
“I expected it to be rough, and it was kind of rough,” Harlan junior middle hitter Avery Crider said of the first day. “But I expect tomorrow to be better. It’s exciting just to know we’re the first varsity. It’s also kind of pressure because we’re also making an image of our school. We have to get prepared now.”
‘Probably the day I don’t like’
Perhaps it was simply a matter of getting over jitters or the unknown, but there was a different vibe in the air for the second day of practice.
Drills were crisper. The energy was higher.
But what also was easy to detect was the reality of the day — Gonzales and her assistants, Megan Williams and Sara Fuller, would announce the 2018 Harlan Hawks.
As the second practice concluded, Gonzales gathered her players near midcourt. The gym, only moments earlier enveloped with the sounds of bouncing volleyballs, cheers and shoes squeaking as they moved around the wooden floor, grew quiet.
“We appreciate your time,” Gonzales began. “We appreciate your effort. As coaches, this probably is the day I don’t like. It’s hard.”
As the players broke from a huddle with a chant of “Hawks,” Gonzales instructed them to wait in a foyer outside her office by classification, then move into the locker room to learn their fate.
One by one, each player emerged from the office. A subtle smile or fist pump, or a tear-stained face were the only indications yielding the outcome of the meeting.
“It’s pretty nervewrecking,” junior outside hitter Victoria Thames said. “When I was in the waiting room, my heart dropped every time the door opened. There were less and less girls going in. That’s when reality hits, ‘I could not make it. I could make it.’ ”
Dress rehearsal
If a day earlier did not demonstrate how serious things were getting, then Saturday’s round-robin scrimmage at Reagan — a school where Gonzales was an assistant for nine seasons (2005-2013) — probably would.
For three days, Harlan players competed against themselves and one another, alternating between conditioning drills and intrasquad scrimmages.
But now, the Hawks were leaving their nest to face other schools. They took on Hays, Brennan and Incarnate Word in their first and only primer for their inaugural season.
It was a final opportunity to iron out any rough patches and to earn playing time, if not a starting position.
“I think it’s really good, because you get more reps,” Thames said. “It works on your mentality, too. It doesn’t give you enough time to work and overthink about, ‘I need to do this right, this right.’ You just have to go.” It’s showtime
Harlan’s season opener against MacArthur was the nightcap of a doubleheader at Taylor Field House, and the excitement for the maiden voyage was palpable.
Gonzales was leaving nothing to chance, though. She took her players’ cellphones away to remove a possible dis- traction. She checked to make sure her players had on the correct uniform — one initially didn’t — and went over proper protocols, such as how and when to enter the court. After all, first impressions are lasting.
Paced by Ayanna Jackson, Arissa Willis and Kiana Fallaha, the Hawks overcame a slow start to win the first set, used a late surge to take the second and never were threatened in the third.
“I know all the girls were excited to play today,” said Fallaha, a sophomore outside hitter. “It was just a big thing, especially with it being the first (match) for Harlan.”
With history made, the Hawks headed to their team bus. They had film to watch and weights to lift in the morning. The team’s first tournament started three days later.
“It’s definitely been fun to grow with these kids, to start the traditions, to teach them how to run on the court, how to do a cheer,” Gonzales said. “You think at the beginning of the year, Aug. 1 is so far away. It’s here.”