New Braunfels Canyon earns another title
Megan Hawkins knows how difficult it is to win a district championship.
But, four in a row? That’s a different level, and Hawkins, New Braunfels Canyon’s fourth-year starter, has a deep appreciation for the feat after the Cougarettes secured at least a tie for the District 26-5A championship with a four-set road victory over Smithson Valley on Tuesday.
“We’ve done it four years in a row, and it’s really hard,” Hawkins said. “Losing a lot of people from last year, and this year, still being able to hold that district title for a fourth year in a row is great.”
The Cougarettes improved to 36-9 overall and 11-1 in district Tuesday. They need one more win in their last two matches in the regular season to secure the title outright. Canyon can take it with a victory against Seguin on Friday.
Hawkins was one of two starters who returned from last year’s 41-8 squad that shared the district crown with Smithson Valley. The Cougarettes are 55-3 in district play over four seasons. They advanced to the UIL Class 5A state semifinals in 2021.
Hawkins is the lone returnee from those squads, and the Cougarettes were seemingly in rebuilding mode after graduating 10 last year. Canyon’s talent that hadn’t played a lot of varsity matches has bloomed.
“We didn’t know what to expect this season with 10 seniors leaving, so it’s been a very big adjustment and it’s been very good so far this year,” sophomore outside hitter Marlee Lightsey said.
Lightsey has stepped in and become the team’s leading attacker with 472 kills. She had 44 as a freshman. Senior middle hitter Josslyn Abel is second with 334 kills after garnering 172 last year.
They’ve offered a needed
offensive boost after five of the Cougarettes’ six leading attackers graduated.
The defense needed a boost, too, and junior libero Sala Nuu has filled in that role with a team-best 713 digs after recording 136 last year.
“I think our hard work got in us through the summer and conditioning and Coach (Sanders) trained us hard,” Nuu said. “We’re really young and her seeing that, she knew she had to step up and do what she knows how to do, and that’s coach us.”
No one has made a bigger adjustment than Hawkins, who was primarily a setter before adding hitting duties this year to propel the offense.
Hawkins had never played outside hitter until this season. The emergence of freshman Logan Sanders, daughter of coach Heather Sanders, has helped Hawkins make that move.
Hawkins leads the team with 701 assists and Sanders has 551.
“She’s such a role model to me, the way she can go from setting all the way around to setting with Logan and killing it front row,” Lightsey said of Hawkins. “It’s shown me that you can do anything that you set your mind to and help push your teammates to be just like you.”
Hawkins is third in the team in kills with 291 kills after tallying 215 combined the three previous seasons.
“Megan, after not hitting all three years on varsity and then having to step up into that role, I think she’s doing a phenomenal job,” Nuu said.
The new duties haven’t slowed down Hawkins. She is also second in the team in digs (425).
Hawkins, a 2022 Express-news Player of the Year finalist, has 3,580 career assists and 1,349 digs. Those are staggering numbers considering the Cougarettes played just 26 matches in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, in which she split setting duties.
Hawkins said Coach Sanders discussed the possibility of becoming an attacker prior to the season. After garnering 67 kills as part of the Cougarettes’ 7-1 performance at the Katy/cy-fair tournament, the role stuck.
“It worked and it just kept working,” Hawkins said. “I’ve gotten a lot better over the season at hitting. I’m embracing it and I’m happy about it.”