As Saniyah Reynolds rose above the net and hammered the final kill into the hardwood court at Delmar Fieldhouse, the celebration commenced for the Cypress Ranch volleyball team.
It had been 364 days since the Mustangs clinched their first appearance in the UIL state semifinals. Now they’re starting to make it an annual tradition. Cy Ranch is headed back to the Class 6A Division I semifinals following a 25-21, 29-27, 25-17 victory against Clear Springs in the Region III final on Tuesday night.
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“It’s a special group,” Cy Ranch coach Collea McKinney said. “I said that about last year, too, but these girls … I love our program from our girls all the way to our parents. It’s definitely a community effort, and everybody coming together is what made this happen. I know we started building last year, but the girls this year got the see that, and they’re like ‘OK, that goal is attainable.’ Now we’re trying to go all the way, so I’m really excited.”
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Cy Ranch (39-7) has won 28 consecutive matches since dropping four straight in tournament play at the end of August against some elite competition. The Mustangs suffered all seven of their losses within the first 18 matches of the season and have been lights-out since working through those growing pains. Entering Tuesday night, the six teams that had beaten the Mustangs boasted a combined .804 winning percentage. Cy Ranch has dropped just one set through the first four rounds of the playoffs, that coming during a win over Dawson in the regional semifinals.
“After last year, we were doubted a lot because we lost a lot of people,” said junior outside hitter Sade Bello, a University of Kansas commit who entered the night with more than 600 kills after previously playing alongside her sister, Zora, a senior leader for last year’s team. “But just knowing who we are and knowing who we have on this team, we know we can go as far as we did last year or even better if we can just stay disciplined and play our game.”
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Cy Ranch will play the Region IV champion, either Round Rock (35-11) or Lake Travis (41-6), at 4 p.m. Saturday back at Delmar Fieldhouse. Those teams were set to play each other later Tuesday. The Mustangs lost 2-0 against both earlier this season, but McKinney said her players are better now for some of the struggles they faced early on.
“I think a lot of growth happened during that time,” McKinney said. “It was hard. The girls had to learn each other. During that time, it’s pretty much a brand-new team if you look at our roster from last year to this year. They were learning how each other work, how to talk to each other and all the little things. As females, we have to learn to communicate properly in order to play together. During that time, they were going through that. I won’t say we’re best friends all the time, but I feel like we’ve learned how to play together and talk each other through those hard times. Those tough losses kind of shaped and molded them into the team they are now.”
Clear Springs (38-10) saw its season come to an end after reaching a regional final for the first time in program history. After losing in the second round of the playoffs against Dawson last season, this year’s Chargers were able push one victory further. Clear Springs has been a consistently strong program and has at least 29 wins in every season since 2021 under coach Shannon McClellen, who first took over the program in 2012.
The pivotal point of the match against Cy Ranch came in the second set. That set featured nine ties and saw the Mustangs stave off defeat after trailing 24-23. Cy Ranch then had four set points of its own before finally getting the final kill to win 29-27. From that point forward, the Mustangs had the momentum and closed out the match.
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“Like I tell them all the time, we’re better together,” said McKinney, who has a 152-29 record at Cy Ranch since 2023. “We have a lot of great individuals on our team, so when we come together, I feel like we’re unstoppable. And maybe I’m biased, and I should be I guess, but at the end of the day, they listened and they actually trusted each other. I think that’s what made us get through that second set, because there were times in there where it got a little bleak. However, they didn’t just lay down, and that’s my biggest thing. We don’t lay down for any loss.”
Cy Ranch ultimately lost 3-0 against eventual state champion and MaxPreps national champion Byron Nelson in the semifinals last year, coming up just one victory short of advancing to Garland. This will be the second year the UIL has pre-determined sites for its state semifinal matches. Last season, Cy Ranch had to travel about four hours to Haltom City, near Fort Worth, for its matchup against Byron Nelson. This time around, the Mustangs have a significantly shorter trip back to Delmar after the realignment moved them from Region II to Region III.
Regardless of the venue, McKinney expects her team to be ready.
“No letdown ever,” she said of the message to her players. “Know that you deserve to be here, and I’m going to be rooting for you the entire time. And they know that. Have each other’s backs, and no letup … ever. That’s our goal.”
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This article originally published at Cy Ranch returns to Class 6A Division I state volleyball semifinals with win over Clear Springs.
