Lake Dallas hires former Eagle Mountain coach Levingston to lead volleyball program

“I have a friend that works there, and she says nothing but great things about the family-like atmosphere about the school,” she said. “That intrigued me more than anything."

Levingston takes over for Kristinn Holbrooks, who stepped down as head coach in May after three years as head coach to accept a job as AVID coordinator in a neighboring school district. Holbrooks led the Lady Falcons to a bi-district finalist appearance in her first season with Lake Dallas and finished with an overall record of 42-53.

Lake Dallas is getting an experienced coach in Levingston. Prior to her arrival at Lake Dallas, she spent one year as the head coach at Eagle Mountain and the previous five in the same role at Nolan Catholic. In college, she played for Auburn from 2003-05, transferred to Garden City Community College and then to Arkansas-Monticello, where she concluded her playing career.

"Nolan Catholic was fun,” she said. “I got to start a middle school program and a sand volleyball program that got to go to state. It was fun working in a Catholic atmosphere, going to chapel. The kids and parents were great there. At Eagle Mountain, I figured out new ways to get to know the kids in a different role there. I felt it helped me grow as a person."

Levingston met with Lake Dallas’ players for the first time a few weeks ago during Falcon Pride strength and conditioning workouts.

"They were welcoming,” she said. “Everyone was super open, very helpful. If I gave the seniors a task, they accomplished it quickly. We've just been rolling ever since then."

Levingston will look to help turn around a Lady Falcon program that has missed the playoffs in each of the last two years. The last postseason appearance for Lake Dallas was in 2019. Last year, the Lady Falcons went 12-22 overall, including a 1-12 mark in District 6-5A.

For the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Lake Dallas will play in 7-5A, where it has been paired with Argyle, Birdville, Colleyville Heritage, Denton, Denton Ryan, Grapevine and Richland.

 "My goal is to get all of the girls back in the gym and get going so that we can build that chemistry and winning mentality and the success that they had before,” Levingston said. 

Lake Dallas lost two key contributors from last year’s team in outside hitters Ashley Machuca and Caelyn Gunn. Gunn was named the district’s utility player of the year, while Machuca was also landed on the all-district first team.

But the Lady Falcons had several underclassmen that received significant varsity playing time during the 2021 season. Senior middle blockers Rachel Armstrong and Altyn Bartley, senior defensive specialist Emma Hirneise and junior setter Reagan Hamm are slated to return to the team.

Levingston brings a unique coaching philosophy to Lake Dallas, saying to expect changes that best reflect the personalities and skill set of her team. She said the weight room will be a major point of emphasis.

"It's one that I'm trying to revamp, redo a little bit,” she said. “Basically, just believing in the process that's going to happen. We're going to be changing some things. We're going to help the girls get bigger, and stronger and just believing it."