Lady Bombers looking to build off past success

Midwest City returns seven varsity players

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

Midwest City’s volleyball team is coming off one of their most successful years in recent memory.

And they have plenty of reasons to believe this year will be even better.

The Lady Bombers return nearly their entire starting lineup including seven varsity players. Second-year head coach Matti Dix says her players have worked hard in the offseason and are hungry to win.

“We had a really successful season last year and I feel like they’re even better this year,” she said. “Their chemistry and confidence have grown. It feels like they’re a completely different team since when I started here.”

Senior Trinnati Allen says they’re focused on qualifying for the state tournament after coming one win short last year. The Lady Bombers lost to Booker T. Washington in the regional finals.

“We have a lot of seniors and high expectations,” she said. “We’re all buying in and executing well. I think we’ll do great this year.”

Allen and Jakaylah Jackson have great size and give the Lady Bombers a strong presence at the middle hitter position. They will be joined by Amari Morris and Misell Wagner at outside hitter.
Kyah Jackson returns at setter. Liala Stewart will start at libero and Torni Sanchez will be the defensive specialist and backup setter.

The team will have a couple of new additions with freshman Jade Hicks and junior Aniyah Currin. Hicks is a skilled player who will play a variety of positions on the JV and varsity teams. Currin returns to the team after not playing last year and will contribute at right side hitter and on the back row.

The Lady Bombers have developed their skills this offseason.

“Last year, we were a little timid with a new coach,” Allen said. “It was a little hard to get adjusted and learn new things in practice. Now we’ve played with each other and have a comfortable connection with the coach. That made our connection stronger.”

Chemistry has also been important to the Lady Bombers. They have strengthened their bonds during a team camp at North Texas University and working in the offseason. They focused on weightlifting most of the summer and began two-a-day practices July 15.

“The team camp was really positive, and they learned a lot and really bonded,” Dix said.

The Lady Bombers will face a tougher schedule this year. They open the season on the road against Putnam City West (Aug. 13) and Putnam City North (Aug. 15) before hosting a varsity tournament on Aug. 17. It’s the first time the school has hosted a volleyball tournament in recent memory. The field includes Shawnee, Harding Charter Prep, Capitol Hill, Southeast, Putnam City North, Classen SAS and Douglass.

They have added the Claremore Tournament on Sept. 20-21.

“At regionals I think we were a little under prepared because we hadn’t played some of the Tulsa schools,” she said.

Midwest City will also host Blanchard (Aug. 20), Northwest Classen (Aug. 29), Southeast (Sept. 5), Altus (Sept. 24), Cache (Oct. 1) and Douglass (Oct. 3). They have road games at Altus (Aug. 22),

Ponca City (Sept. 3), Choctaw (Sept. 10), Putnam City (Sept. 12), Enid (Sept. 17), Del City (Sept. 19), and North Rock Creek (Sept. 26). They will also compete in the CCS tournament (Aug. 24), and the Conference Tournament at Putnam City (Oct. 4-5).

Scheduling games has been much easier this year following an impressive run in 2023.

“After last year, we had teams reaching out to us about booking games,” Dix said. “That meant a lot since we’re not a big volleyball school. We have good schools reaching out to us because they see what we did last year.”

“My girls are really excited about the opportunity to prove themselves and show they can hang with other schools,” Dix said.