Jordan, which opened in 2020, is moving up to 6A this year. The Warriors went 19-19 in the 19-5A district last season, finishing fifth in a competitive district.
“It’s super exciting to go from a great, tough District 5A to being able to play with our fellow Katy ISD (in a district),” said Folse, a Sam Houston State commit who had 15 eliminations and six aces to lead Jordan. “We are delighted to take up the challenge. We know it will be tough, but we are working hard to secure a playoff spot.
Jordan gave up the first set due to errors and the offensive skills of seniors Emily Schaper (three kills, two aces) and Jordan Columbus (three kills) took a beating.
In the second set, however, Folse took over. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter had three kills and five aces as the Warriors took a 13-2 lead.
At one point, Folse served nine straight points for the Warriors. She said she has been stronger on her feet this season, getting the upper hand on the ball rather than just passing it and remaining weak in defence.
Folse is also in a better place mentally. She gives positive auto-suggestions before each game.
“She’s been huge, but not just on the court,” Jordan’s coach Jennifer Vaden said of her star player. “She’s been so important off the field as a leader and buying. She’s on the right side and I changed her to six rotations on the outside (hitter) last year, and you have to have a lot of confidence in me to see and stick with it. She just understands things. She’s someone who picks people up and is very good at embracing an environment that is freeing and allowing kids to make mistakes and not s worry about it.
The Warriors were barely threatened the rest of the way aside from a brief streak in the fourth set, when the Wildcats rallied from a 17-11 deficit to tie the game at 18-18. But Jordan closed the match on a 5-1 run to seal the deal, thanks to terrific net play from Damisi Osibodu, Abbie O’Shea and Addison Oglesby.
“We’re really good at turning around and getting out of a rut really quickly,” Folse said. “We had a lot of energy on the pitch. We’ve done a great job getting in and out of caucuses and resetting ourselves.
Cy Woods graduated eight seniors from last year’s 33-12 quarter-finalist regional team. But Jordan favors a young roster.
Two sophomores, Osibodu and O’Shea, and two freshmen, Emmy Nicholas and Ava Ribakovs, saw substantial playing time on Tuesday. Osibodu and O’Shea each have a reach of nearly 10 feet, Nicholas is hard-hitting as a defensive specialist and Ribakovs has shown plenty of skill as a right passer.
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 goes together. We’ve really worked on defense, big, off-system, coverage… we know everybody’s going to have big blocks in 6A and big swings. We are ready for it and we are training hard.
Vaden said her team needs to be more disciplined on blocks and defense, but she’s confident that will come.
There’s so much to love right now.
One thing is culture.
“We talk about the importance of each day, from how we work to how we struggle in practice,” Vaden said. “Everything we do puts us in a position to come here and be able to perform, even though we’re young. We’re taking intentional rehearsals which start in the spring, but that also means being smart at club and stuff. We’re lucky to be a first university in 6A so what are we going to do How do we keep this goal every time we enter the gym If you can do it in a gym in training you can find a way to do it when the games are real.
Another thing, as a by-product of said culture, is leadership. Vaden struggles to single out one or more players as leaders.
It’s everyone.
“We’re running a district-wide captain leadership (program), and I’m taking all of my college back because they need to know what a real leader looks like,” Vaden said. “They hold each other accountable, which is really hard in high school. There’s a vision here that everyone is valuable on this team, and everyone pushes everyone.
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