SPRING — Morgan Rogers hadn’t thought about that moment in a while.
To be fair, a lot has happened in terms of the ascension of Grand Oaks volleyball since then.
It was early August 2019, and Grand Oaks was just beginning its second school year and making its varsity debut.
Playing in its inaugural tournament, Grand Oaks proclaimed its arrival on the Greater Houston volleyball scene.
The Grizzlies, playing at the Class 5A level to begin, knocked out the host of the Huffman-Hargrave tournament, a Falcons team that went 42-2 the year before.
“To beat an established team like Huffman in that championship that we did that year was super fun and exciting,” Rogers said during Tuesday’s practice. “Just to reflect back on the joy that the girls and the parents felt with that first win was really cool.”
That Grand Oaks team played with juniors and younger that season. Some of the Grizzly originators are older sisters of current members of this year’s team that is on a special journey.
In just its fifth varsity season, Grand Oaks (48-1), ranked No. 2 nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association/USA Today, is heading to the University Interscholastic League Class 6A final four this Friday. The Grizzlies will meet Prosper (37-9) at 5 p.m. at Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. The winner will face either Cinco Ranch (37-5) or Northside Harlan (44-5) in Saturday’s 5 p.m. state championship.
When she was in junior high, senior setter Audrey Terry observed her older sister Ava, now playing at Sam Houston, help establish a competitive and strong-willed Grizzly program from the beginning.
“It was pretty cool to see the older girls play and say that I’m going to be on that team someday,” Terry said. “Looking up to them was a good experience to have as a little kid.”
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Sophomore Halle Thompson’s older sister Fallon was an immediate standout as a sophomore herself four years ago. Fallon now plays at Gonzaga University.
“Even watching my sister and their group, they were a senior-heavy group like us,” Thompson said. “They were always high level and brought it as well.”
Samantha Sampson, a sophomore on today’s Grizzlies, is the younger sister of Sarah Sampson from that team.
To an outsider, Grand Oaks becoming a volleyball powerhouse seemingly happened overnight.
It’s been more of a step-by-step process since Rogers took a leap and decided in 2018 to apply for a job to start another program from scratch.
A Tomball High alum, Rogers Tomball Memorial’s first coach in 2011.
“It was all just kind of a drop in the hat,” Rogers said. “I knew the area and the Conroe schools and how they had been talent wise. I didn’t make the switch searching for talent. I think it was just a fun opportunity to be more established in my career and open a school again, create something and build it with a little more experience.”
In 2019, Grand Oaks won a district title in Class 5A with a 36-11 (17-1) season. The Grizzlies then won their first playoff game — against Magnolia West — on Tomball’s home floor, which had special meaning to Rogers.
Fast forward to last week’s Region II-6A championship, Rogers’ Grizzlies had to beat her former program Tomball Memorial and its head coach Sydney Lynch, who worked on Rogers’ staff back when the school first opened.
“It’s been bittersweet,” Rogers said. “Tomball is my people. But it did feel good to experience that with this team there.”
In 2020, Grand Oaks moved up to the much more challenging Class 6A and a district with powers like The Woodlands, College Park and Oak Ridge. In 2022, Grand Oaks shared the district title with The Woodlands.
The 2023 season has been different. While being recognized nationally as one of the best teams in the country, the Grizzlies have lost just once (Prestonwood Christian, Aug. 26). Grand Oaks went undefeated in District 13-6A without dropping a single set. In fact, Grand Oaks has dropped just seven sets all season, most recently in the regional semifinal against Garland Sachse.
But a commonality from 2019-22 was the area-round hurdle. The Grizzlies were 0-4 coming into this postseason.
Grand Oaks was in the regional tournament for the first time last week. Because, yes, it buried its area-round demon with a sweep of Langham Creek on Nov. 3. Four nights later, Grand Oaks then topped a talented Bridgeland team that had been to state two years prior in the regional quarterfinals.
“Getting through that second round was a heavy cloud we got off our shoulders and our heads,” Rogers said. “We really pushed through that throughout that week.”
The celebration was fun for Grand Oaks this past Saturday at Lufkin Panther Activity Center after a sweep of Tomball Memorial earned the ticket to state.
“It felt great but we also hold ourselves to a standard that we expect that from ourselves,” Grand Oaks senior middle Jaela Auguste, a University of Florida signee, said. “We’re excited to compete and have a great game at state. Hopefully, we make it to Saturday.”
Auguste competed for the United States U19 national team over the summer where the Americans won gold. One of Auguste’s teammates — Ayden Ames — is a 6-foot-4 middle/outside hitter for Prosper. Ames signed with the University of Texas last week.
“Just us trusting and believing in what got us to that point,” Rogers said when asked the keys to taking on Prosper, a state champion as recent as 2017. “Offensively, we’re physical and we can be spread out. Just making sure that we trust that and we’re able to step with those offensive players. (Ames) will get her kills and she’ll get her moments. We’re just trusting and staying patient that we have the tools to overcome that.”
Grand Oaks counters with a powerful offense led by Thompson with 472 kills (4.1 per set). Junior Samara Coleman, a University of Pittsburgh commit, also averages 4.1 kills per set and has 453 total. Texas State recruit Caelyn Emmerling, a senior, has 267 kills on the year and Auguste has 242 kills and 134 blocks. Sophomore Cali Reece leads in digs with 402 while Terry has 755 assists (6.9 per set).
Auguste played some on varsity in 2020 and has seen form before her eyes a talented team with a big opportunity.
“We’ve gotten so used to each other,” Auguste said. “It’s become natural to us. When it comes to volleyball with this team it’s just really easy because we all know each other, we’re comfortable with each other.”
