The Sachse volleyball team huddles around head coach Rikki Jones during a timeout against Rockwall-Heath on Tuesday. Photo by Art Stricklin / C&S Media
By David Wolman
HEATH – Sachse got its 2026 volleyball season off to a rough start Tuesday, but head coach Rikki Jones said the Lady Mustangs can only use it as a learning experience for her young team.
“We better get better, but we had a lot of young kids and some of them were nervous in their first game,” Jones said after a 25-9, 25-18, 25-15 loss to a tall, experienced and talented Heath team.
Sachse scored the first point in each of the three sets but was unable to keep the momentum in any of the three sets, forcing Jones into multiple timeouts and a spirited postgame talk to her players after the game.
“We have played this team (Heath) several years in a row to start the season and we usually got five games because everybody is working on things, but it was a tough one tonight.”
The Lady Mustangs got steadily better each set before a nearly full crowd at Heath gym.
After a tough opening game, they cut the deficit to just 12-9 in game two thanks in part to a spike return point by sophomore outside hitter Khole Ellis and an ace serve by Ellis.
“She is young, but you can tell she is going to be a good player for us. She made some mistakes but also recovered from them. She has the fight and competitive spirit we need,” Jones said.
In set three, Sachse took its largest lead of the entire contest, 9-7, midway through the game which forced Heath into its only timeout of the contest. After the brief break in play, the Hawks came back on an 8-1 run for a 15-10 lead which forced Sachse into another timeout of their own.
“We’re going into tournament play with possibly six games this weekend and that is what we need to get ready,” said Jones. “Our defense is brand new to a lot of our kids and our offense has been here for one year, but we have a lot of room to improve.”
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