Summer Questions Part 4: A peek ahead to the fall with volleyball, football

Throughout the summer, Star Local Media will reflect on the year that was for the Frisco area, while also looking ahead to the district’s storylines and subplots for the 2022-23 school year.

1. What local volleyball teams can contend for district titles?

For the last few years, Frisco ISD has enjoyed the luxury of having a district all to itself.

While that made for some heated battles in the fight for the playoffs and the district championship, it also guaranteed FISD four teams in the postseason.

But with Emerson and Panther Creek joining varsity play, FISD now has 12 high schools, meaning a split was inevitable.

That was the case when the University Interscholastic League announced its 2022-2024 realignment and volleyball will be the first sport to experience the new landscape.

The good news for FISD is that not only is it guaranteed four playoff berths in the all-Frisco 10-5A, it could land more with four other teams in 9-5A, as well as Panther Creek in 11-4A.

The new 10-5A will feature seven FISD teams with Centennial, Emerson, Heritage, Independence, Lebanon Trail, Liberty and Memorial.

Last season, the Coyotes and Knights each secured playoff berths, with the Warriors being edged out on a tiebreaker and the Redhawks finishing just two games back.

Memorial has holes to fill, but does return sophomore outside hitter Britton Finley, last year’s newcomer of the year, Independence has first-team junior outside hitter Reagan Bedell and Liberty returns senior first-teamer McKenna Gildon.

Over in 9-5A, the FISD quartet of Frisco, Lone Star, Reedy and Wakeland are joined by a trio of Carrollton ISD schools in Creekview, Newman Smith and R.L. Turner, as well as The Colony.

The Lions rolled to the 9-5A championship a season ago, as their 17-1 record was five games better than the rest of the field, and they went on to a historical run to the regional finals.

Though Reedy graduated four all-district performers, it does return senior outside hitter Halle Schroder, last year’s 9-5A most valuable player, as well as a trio of honorable mentions in seniors Gracie Cagle, Reese Miller and Ella Gambler.

The Wolverines finished in a tie for second place and advanced three rounds deep.

Wakeland is poised for a run at its first district championship since 2016 with senior Audrey Clark, the 9-5A outstanding setter, senior first-team middle blocker/right side Hannah Pfiffner, junior second-team middle blocker/right side Jessica Jones and three honorable mentions in seniors Kaleigh Williams, Savannah Ivie and Elyse Niemann.

Lone Star was in the playoff hunt until the final week of the regular season and returns three all-district performers, including senior first-team outside hitter Amani Mason.

The Colony was a playoff team a year ago, but was bounced by Reedy in the first round, and while Creekview and Newman Smith qualified for the postseason, they played in a much weaker overall district.

As for as Panther Creek’s inaugural foray into volleyball will be a tough one in 11-4A.

That group features Celina, last year’s state runner-up who is coming off a 42-2 season, as well as Aubrey, who advanced to the regional final before being knocked out by its district rival in the Bearcats.

Carrollton Ranchview was also a playoff team a year ago, while Anna knows just what kind of challenge it faces having shared the same district as Celina and Aubrey the last two years.

2. Historically, what Frisco ISD volleyball program has been the best?

This is a tough question to answer given the fact that many FISD programs are less than two decades old and two have not yet started.

But in varied time frames, several have started a winning tradition.

When it was still a one-horse town, Frisco enjoyed its share of success.

From 1986-2016, the Raccoons made 22 playoff appearances, capturing five district championships and making seven regional tournaments along the way.

Frisco had a streak of 13 straight postseason berths from 1986-1998 and six trips in a row from 2011-2016.

But with the growth of the city, and thus, the addition of new schools, the talent has been spread around since the opening of Centennial in 2004.

The Titans enjoyed a nice run of their own, breaking through the following year and starting a streak of 10 straight playoff appearances from 2005-2014, with seven district championships and four trips to the regional tournament.

Those two programs have the best argument, but have also had the most time to build their resumes.

Liberty made an immediate splash by winning the district championship in its first season in 2008 and that started a stretch where it made the playoffs 11 times in 13 years.

Wakeland has also been a postseason regular, having qualified 10 times since 2008, with three appearances in the regional finals.

One of the younger programs to keep an eye on is Reedy. Since starting play in 2016, the Lions have made the playoffs in five out of six years, and just last season, advanced to the regional championship match.

Another interesting note is that for all of FISD’s success in sports across the board, no volleyball team has ever advanced to the state tournament.

3. What football teams will contend for district titles?

Whereas teams in other sports will be separated from their FISD rivals for the first time in a long time, this is nothing new for football, which has been split up between 5A Division I and Division II for the last few years.

Last season, five FISD teams made the playoffs, a scenario that was not possible in other sports.

With the addition of Panther Creek, the 12 programs are spread out among three different districts for the upcoming season.

If laying odds on a district championship, one would certainly look at the new 6-5A Division I, where FISD has eight of the nine teams, with Frisco, Centennial, Heritage, Lebanon Trail, Liberty, Lone Star, Reedy and Wakeland being joined by outsider Sherman.

That is also a change from last season, when six FISD teams were in the largest 5A classification, as Independence dropped down and Lebanon Trail and Liberty moved up.

The Rangers, Wolverines and Lions are all coming off playoff appearances from a year ago.

Lone Star has holes to fill after graduating 11 first-team all-district performers, including co-MVP Ashton Jeanty and co-offensive most valuable player Garret Rangel, but they do return 2-way player of the year Jaylon Braxton.

Wakeland and Reedy also lost a lot to graduation, though the Wolverines do return junior quarterback Brennan Myer, last year’s newcomer of the year.

Liberty was poised to make an immediate impact, but now has questions after quarterback Keldric Luster, last year’s 7-5A Division II most valuable player, transferred to McKinney.

It appears to be a wide-open race and four playoff teams could be a possibility, as Sherman is coming off a 4-6 season.

Emerson, Independence and Memorial are not only changing districts, but they are also moving to Region I.

They will face an interesting seven-team group that includes Lake Dallas and Denton, two teams that did not make the playoffs last season, Carrollton Creekview, who did qualify for the postseason but was bounced in the first round, and Argyle, which has been a perennial powerhouse and has won two state championships in the last decade, but is making a move up in classification.

As for Panther Creek, there is a chance for success in its inaugural campaign on the gridiron.

Celina will be the prohibitive favorite and Carter is coming off a solid season but the rest of the district features teams that have struggled in recent years such as Carrollton Ranchview, Wilmer-Hutchins, Pinkston and North Dallas.