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Jordan senior Ella Folse.
Katy Jordan opens 6A tenure with impressive win over Cy Woods
FULSHEAR — Katy Jordan’s initial foray into Class 6A was an impressive one.
The Warriors’ volleyball team topped a quality Cy Woods club 3-1 (21-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-19) in its season-opener at home Tuesday evening, showing off a dynamic 1-2 punch in senior Ella Folse and junior Ella Koch, and promising young talent at the net.
Jordan, which opened its doors in 2020, is making the move up to 6A this year. The Warriors went 19-19 in District 19-5A last season, finishing fifth in a competitive district.
“It’s super exciting to step up from a great, tough 5A district to be able to play with our fellow Katy ISD (in one district),” said Folse, a Sam Houston State commit who had 15 kills and six aces to lead Jordan. “We’re excited for the challenge. We know it’s going to be tough but we’re working hard to get a playoff spot.”
Jordan dropped the first set as errors and the attacking skills of seniors Emily Schaper (three kills, two aces) and Jordan Columbus (three kills) ran roughshod.
In the second set, however, Folse took over. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter had three kills and five aces as the Warriors jumped out to a 13-2 lead.
At one point, Folse served on nine consecutive points for the Warriors. She said she is stronger on her feet this season, getting on top of the ball rather than just overrunning it, and staying low on defense.
Folse is also in a better place mentally. She gives positive self-talks before every game.
“She’s been huge but not just on the court,” Jordan coach Jennifer Vaden said of her star player. “She’s been so important off the court with being a leader and buying in. She’s a right-side and I changed her to a six-rotation outside (hitter) last year, and you have to have a lot of trust in me to see it and stick with it. She just figures things out. She’s someone who picks people up and really does well embracing an environment that frees up and allows kids to make mistakes and not get upset about it.”
The Warriors were hardly threatened the rest of the way aside from a brief stretch in the fourth set, when the Wildcats rallied from a 17-11 deficit to tie it at 18-18. But Jordan closed the game on a 5-1 run to seal the deal, thanks to terrific play at the net from Damisi Osibodu, Abbie O’Shea and Addison Oglesby.
“We’re really good at turning a run around and getting out of a rut really quickly,” Folse said. “We had great energy on the court. We did a great job of getting in and out of huddles and resetting.”
Cy Woods graduated eight seniors from last year’s 33-12 regional quarterfinalist team. But Jordan fosters a young roster.
Two sophomores, Osibodu and O’Shea, and two freshmen, Emmy Nicholas and Ava Ribakovs, saw substantial playing time Tuesday. Osibodu and O’Shea each has a reach of almost 10 feet, Nicholas is impactful as a defensive specialist and Ribakovs flashed a lot of skill as a right-side setter.
Koch had 11 kills and two blocks. O’Shea had eight kills and two blocks. Osibodu had five kills, five blocks and two aces.
“We have a brand new team,” Folse said. “Everyone is coming in together. We’ve really been working on defense, big, out-of-system, covering … we know everyone will have big blocks in 6A and big swings. We’re ready for that and training hard.”
Vaden said her team has to be more disciplined on the blocks and on defense but she’s confident it will come.
There is so much to like right now.
One thing is the culture.
“We talk about how important every day is, from how we work to how we hustle in practice,” Vaden said. “Everything we do puts us in a position to come out here and be able to execute, even while young. We take intentional reps that starts in the spring but also means being smart in club and all of that. We get a chance to be a first-time varsity in 6A, so what are we going to do? How do we keep that purpose every time we get in the gym? If you can do it in a gym in practice, you can find a way to do it when the games are real.”
Another thing, as a byproduct of said culture, is leadership. Vaden has a difficult time singling out any one player, or players, as leaders.
It’s everyone.
“We do a district-wide spring leadership (program) of captains, and I take my whole returning varsity because they need to know what a real leader looks like,” Vaden said. “They keep each other accountable, which is really hard in high school. There is a vision here that everybody is valuable on this team, and everybody is pushing everybody.”
Junior outside hitter Ella Folse had 13 kills, three aces and two blocks in leading Jordan High to its first every varsity volleyball win on Monday, 3-1 over Cy-Springs.
Warriors reach milestone with 1st varsity win in 1st game
Joy and elation radiated from the Jordan High volleyball team bench as soon as sophomore Ella Koch put away a 3-1 win over Cy-Springs on Monday evening in the Warriors' first ever varsity game.
For the Warriors, a second-year Class 5A program, the game was not just some non-district affair that will be lost in MaxPreps scheduling lore. It was history. It was justification.
It was a substantial outcome for everything they had worked for in building a new program from scratch over the last year.
"It's super hard," Koch said. "We've been through a lot of tough times, but we've worked very hard to get here and we know we still have a long way to go. I think a win like this sets us forward as to what we can do and how we can get there."
Jordan won 24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 25-14. Impressively, the Warriors, with a 10-girl varsity roster of four juniors, five sophomores and a freshman, showed fight and an ability to adjust and adapt after errors plagued a sloppy first set.
"I thought we were pretty tough for being a young team," coach Jennifer Vaden said. "We showed resilience. We could've gotten shook; Cy-Springs brought athleticism and didn't ever let a ball touch the ground. I was proud of our response."
Vaden was also proud of the depth the Warriors showed. Junior outside hitter Ella Folse had 13 kills, three aces and two blocks. Koch, an outside hitter, had 12 kills and two aces. Freshman Alexys James, a right-side hitter, had eight kills and eight aces.
"It's about playing together," said James, who provided the team's first kill of the game. "Whenever we get down in points, like the first set, we all came together, talked it out and focused on playing as a team. I'm just so happy to be a part of this program. It's really like a family and we all support each other. You won't find a bond like ours anywhere else."
Vaden said the Warriors have been "working 365" to get to this point. Prior to Jordan, she led Mayde Creek, where her job was to establish credibility and culture within a downtrodden Rams program.
Vaden made considerable headway in that purpose by the time the Jordan gig came around, and she took some of what she learned there to the Warriors.
"Mayde Creek was a great experience as far as going in and having to shift everything and help those girls understand what it looks like to be a great program," Vaden said. "To be able to close the gap there was extremely hard, but we just put our head down and got to work and that helped me coming over here. We talk a lot about culture, building gritty culture, and the neat thing is there was nothing here. It's a lot of fun to be able to build that and for the girls to only know one way."
That one way is a welcomed fresh start for everyone involved.
"It's awesome," Folse said. "Everyone is new, everything is new. There's no bad habits. There's no bad drama. We're all in it together. We're creating all the good habits amongst ourselves and we're making the most of it."
Indeed, a win in varsity game No. 1 is a strong start, something Vaden is excited that the Warriors can take a lot from and build upon.
"It's just putting our head down and going to work," Vaden said. "How good can we get? Let's leave nothing to chance and make sure we're playing the same way every single time and building that confidence and the grit and resilience that comes from inside-out and not outside-in."