Lady Leps Stellar Season Comes to an End

For a team that started with so much uncertainty, the La Grange volleyball team certainly accomplished a lot this season.

The Lady Leps season came to an end Monday in Thrall with a three-set 25-16, 25-13, 25-11 loss to a Salado team loaded with at least four future D-I college athletes.

But that hardly diminishes the shine of a season that saw the Lady Leps more than double their win total from a year ago (this year’s team was 27-17 compared to last year’s squad that went 12-28).

And they did it led by a new head coach, Ryan O’Neal, who was actually hired to be the girls basketball coach/girls athletic director. But when their new volleyball hire ended up abruptly resigning to take a job elsewhere during the summer, O’Neal stepped in.

“It was pretty rough going into it, we didn’t have high expectations, but he came in with a lot of positive energy, and we had a great run this year,” said La Grange’s Kylie Trlicek, who was one of five seniors on this team, along with Carley Ulrich, Clara Bundick, Faith Greenwood and Kyla Colon.

“It’s been quite a journey,” O’Neal said. “We talked about that before this game. In the summer, this team was nowhere near where we are now. We’ve grown, we had setbacks we learned from, and I can’t say enough about how proud of these girls I am.”

But Salado (33-13) didn’t care about that backstory Monday.

Led by 6-foot-2 University of Arkansas commit Elsie Law, six-foot Mazzy Johnson, a Rice University outside hitter commit, and a pair of six foot sisters, freshman Naomi Niu and sophomore Charli Niu – the Lady Eagles were dominant at the net Tuesday.

“Probably one of the tallest teams we’ve ever played,” said Ulrich, who herself is going to go on to play college ball at Wharton County Junior College next year. “We watched film on them and we were going to try to go around them or high hand, but they did a really good job on that.”

Salado now advances to face Bridge City in the third round.

“They were a very good team, we knew that going in,” said O’Neal. “It’s one thing seeing it on film and having a game plan, but with their size and speed, they did a really good job of executing their offense. Early on we made some runs, and I was proud of the way our girls competed See tonight and all season.”

“I’m so proud of this team and what we accomplished this season,” Ulrich said.

Even though some really impactful seniors are graduating for La Grange, this team will still have Brion Williams, Ashstyn Smith, Campbell Cooper, Avery Griffin, Haedyn Cooper, Kenna Lamza, Gabby Hollek and Hannah Gross.

Who will be leading them remains to be seen.

Coming into this season it was O’Neal’s plan to coach for one year and then hire a new volleyball coach for next season.

In the aftermath of Monday’s loss O’Neal wasn’t ready to think too far into the future.

“Let’s get through basketball first,” O’Neal said.

There was no rest for the coach and many of his players – the first basketball scrimmage loomed the very next day.