Frisco High beat both teams that shared the District 11-5A volleyball title this fall. When the regular season ended Friday, the Raccoons still did not know whether they had a playoff spot.
Frisco and Independence finished tied for fourth at 7-7 in the all-Frisco ISD district, according to final standings on MaxPreps. Each won once in their two meetings, both of them five-set matches: Frisco took the first at Independence on Sept. 8, and Independence won the rematch at Frisco on Oct. 2.
Only one of them advances, and the tie has to be broken before the UIL's Oct. 27 deadline for districts to certify their playoff teams.
A shared title in 11-5A
Centennial and Memorial each went 12-2 and split their head-to-head matches. Memorial won the first meeting in five sets on Sept. 11, and Centennial swept the rematch Oct. 6 before closing the season on a nine-match winning streak. Memorial finished 34-7 overall and Centennial 28-8.
Frisco owns the only other district wins over either team. The Raccoons took down Centennial on Sept. 22, needing four sets, and handed Memorial a four-set loss on Oct. 20, a result Star Local Media described at the time as an upset that left the race in disarray with one night to play.
Liberty settled third place Friday by beating Frisco in four sets at home, ending a four-match losing streak and finishing 8-6. Independence went the other direction late in the year. After starting district play 1-5, it won six of its last eight, including sweeps of Liberty and Heritage in the final week.
Emerson (6-8), Heritage (4-10) and Lebanon Trail (0-14) were eliminated.
Reedy runs the table in 6-5A
Across town in District 6-5A, Reedy finished 12-0 and dropped only two sets in league play. The Lions, 28-6 overall, have won 13 straight. Prosper Richland was second at 9-3, Lone Star third and Denton Ryan fourth, with Panther Creek and The Colony out.
That district has already been entered on the UIL's 5A brackets. Reedy is listed as District 6's top Division I team and will meet the second Division I qualifier from District 5-5A. Lone Star is the second Division II team from District 6 and opens against District 5's top Division II team.
Under the UIL format, the two largest schools among a district's four playoff teams go to Division I while the remaining pair play in Division II, and each division has its own state champion.
Frisco ISD noted at the start of district play that Reedy reached the 5A state final in 2022, the first of its teams to get that far.
Wakeland third in 5-6A
Wakeland, Frisco ISD's only school in a 6A volleyball district, finished third in District 5-6A at 10-4 behind Hebron (13-1) and Flower Mound (11-2), with Flower Mound Marcus fourth. The Wolverines won their final three district matches, including a four-set win over Marcus on Friday, and are 22-18 overall.
The school district lists Wakeland as the 2024 5A Division II state champion, the first state volleyball title in Frisco ISD history.
What comes next
Bi-district matches are scheduled for Oct. 29-31, with the area round Nov. 2-3. The District 11-5A teams are paired with District 12-5A on the brackets.
