Plano East junior Leyna Anderson goes up in the air for a hitting attempt during Tuesday’s season opener against Woodrow Wilson. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Plano East was forced to wait for more than one hour to commence the 2025 season because of a mechanical issue with a bus that was transporting the Woodrow Wilson volleyball team.
Despite a lengthy delay, the Lady Panthers were no worse for the wear while beginning their season with a 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 home win from Archie McAfee Gymnasium on Tuesday, Aug. 12.
“A win is a win,” Perez said. “I’ll take a preseason win. We have a lot to work on, but it’s good to get that first one under our belt. We have a lot of young girls with some freshmen and sophomores, and this was really their first varsity experience. It was good for our younger girls to get some touches and some experience and get that first game under their belts and get those nerves gone.”
Plano East has made appearances in the third round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, and the Lady Panthers have the goal of advancing further this season despite significant turnover in their roster.
The Lady Panthers lost five seniors to graduation, with the most significant departure coming at middle blocker, a position where Plano East got 163 combined blocks a season ago from alumnae Elena Davenport and Grace McDonald. Plano East also saw junior outside hitter Grace Pinegar, who finished second on the team in kills, transfer to Flower Mound.
Despite those key departures, Plano East returns good offensive firepower with senior outside hitter Simone Heard, last year’s District 6-6A most valuable player, and senior outside hitter Marisabelle Sias.
Heard, who logged 731 kills last season, picked up where she left off at the end of last season by recording a team-high 11 finishes against Woodrow Wilson while rotating between outside hitter and middle hitter. Sias hit the ball the hardest of any Plano East player. She tallied six kills and added two key blocks in the third set that allowed the Lady Panthers to maintain a multiple-point lead over the Lady Wildcats.
“(Heard) is effective anywhere that we put her,” Perez said. “When (Sias) swings and gets a touch, it’s beautiful.”
Plano East also received great offensive support from two new varsity newcomers, freshmen outside hitters Kyla Slaughter and Luz Luna, and effective two-way play from middle blockers Jaiden Boutte, a sophomore, Kennedi Lewis-Picklesimer, a junior, and Leyna Anderson, a junior.
Plano East struggled at the start of each set, but the Lady Panthers quickly regrouped while also taking advantage of mistakes by Woodrow Wilson.
The Lady Wildcats jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set, but a service ace by junior libero Dakota Huynh and a kill by Heard got the Lady Panthers right back in the match. Plano East proceeded to assume control, with a service ace by Sias giving the Lady Panthers a 13-9 lead. That lead only continued to grow. Plano East finished the opening set on a 23-11 run, with a hitting error by Woodrow Wilson on the final point giving the Lady Panthers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
Perez offered praise for the leadership of Huynh, who is the district’s reining defensive player of the year, and she is joined in the back row by sophomore Addison Tucker, junior Addison Walters and senior Emma Reeves.
“We have all the pieces to the puzzle,” Perez said. “We’ve just got to put everything together.”
The Lady Panthers had to work harder to win the second set.
Woodrow Wilson came into the match with a size advantage on the front row and the Lady Wildcats took advantage, with the Lady Panthers struggling to hit the ball around their block.
The Lady Wildcats reduced their deficit to 17-15 after the Lady Panthers hit the ball out of bounds. However, Plano East restored order thanks to two straight service aces by Walters, the second of which gave the Lady Panthers a 20-15 lead. Woodrow Wilson, meanwhile, struggled behind the service line. The fifth missed serve of the middle set by the Lady Wildcats gave Plano East a 25-17 triumph and a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Woodrow Wilson continued to receive strong play from its front row in the third set. Nola Gannon lowered the boom on a hard-hit ball for a kill for an 18-18 tie. However, mistakes came back to haunt the Lady Wildcats. Plano East retook the lead on the ensuing point. After a bad pass by Woodrow Wilson, Anderson hit the ball hard for a kill, and the Lady Panthers never looked back.
“They have some trees, and we’ve got to work on what we do when we have some trees in front of us, because those big girls were blocking and we’ve got to know what to do when we have a block in front of us,” Perez said. “(Woodrow Wilson) played well tonight. They have some really good girls on offense. They have some really good freshmen. They tested us and let us see some things. It’s back to the drawing board tomorrow and get ready to play this weekend.”
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