Prepared by a tumultuous season of multiple five setters against state-ranked teams and sporadic quarantines and cancellations, Coppell heads to Frisco Heritage High School for its Class 6A Region I bi-district playoff match against the nationally ranked Prosper tomorrow at 7 p.m.

With Coppell High School’s recent shutdown, its practice practice schedules were thrown off, as practices did not resume until Wednesday.

“We’re trying to fit a lot of stuff into a few days of time and it can feel stressful but we’re going to be ready,” Coppell junior outside hitter Abby Hendricks said. “They’re not a team where we can just go in and run them over; we have to really work for the win.”

But the Cowgirls are not by any means under the impression that Prosper is an unbeatable team with these circumstances. On Monday, Sachse, ranked No. 92 in the country, upset Prosper in five sets.

“We know our defense and what shots to make,” Hendricks said. “When Sacshe played them, they played really really hard, balls to the wall and they were on the floor half the game.” 

Expecting nothing but Prosper’s full power, Coppell adjusted heavily in preparation for the team’s left handed right sides and strong pin hitters. To defend against Prosper senior outside hitter Sami Jacobs’ hitting close to the line, Coppell is adapting Sachse’s strategy of rotational defense. 

In it, the setter will come to the front of the court with the middle back will cover those line balls and left back and off-block will defend the rest of the court.

After all these adjustments and studying film from the Sachse match, it became clear to Coppell that all that was left to do was carry the energy they had built in these last few practices and leave it all on the court.

“It’s going to be an endless fight, we can never let up, and if we truly want to win we’re going to need to come out with energy and determination and fight for every single point,” Coppell senior middle hitter Madison Gilliland said.

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