Marble Falls volleyball aims to use final weeks wisely
CAPTION: Senior middle blocker Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa is one of several key returners for the 2026 season. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
On the first day of two-a-days in August 2025, Marble Falls High School volleyball head coach Zoey Beard-Hanrahan was leading her first practice and began it by asking her players to go to the baseline to run lines.
After a few minutes of running with some athletes breathing hard, Beard-Hanrahan pointed out that a few were missing from summer strength and conditioning during the June and July sessions. And she wanted her players to know the importance of their attendance.
Fast forward to 2026 and the circumstances have changed. That’s because the 2025 team not only advanced to the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade, the Lady Mustangs won two playoff matches to make school history.
And while the coach remains proud of those accomplishments, she pointed out the goals for this season are unchanged.
“We came a long way last year and I don’t want to take a step backward, so I’m going to push even harder this year with my expectations and what I need each position to do specifically,” she said. “Because now we have to build on the elements that we started from which was my base. So I mean, again, great year. But if we can get all of the components where I want them to be, we can go even further.”
That starts with attending summer strength and conditioning, known as Forge, where the coach herself has been heavily involved in watching lifting sessions and drill work on top of leading the volleyball skills work after Forge ends.
“I want every single one of my girls here because not only is it injury prevention, but if you’re coming to me and complaining that you want to jump higher, swing faster and you’re not up to strength and conditioning,” the coach said. “It might not be mandatory, but that’s how you get better. Is it hard? Yes. Waking up early is hard and getting in there and working your tail off in the weight room and out on that turf is hard. But the fighters are going to do it, and I think that is a good indicator of who my fighters are and who my leaders are, who shows up and actually does those things that I need them to do.”
Beard-Hanrahan recalled that during the playoff run, some players weren’t feeling 100 percent. A former high school and volleyball player herself, the coach gave her athletes some insight about how to combat those aches.
“The only thing that does that is getting in the weight room and working on agility,” she said. “And of course communication with my trainers, so they can let me know what’s going on, they can help you. If they need heat or if they need ice or if we need to do compression, whatever it is, you need to just continuously have open communication with me. And then those who want to show up and do it and have that fighting or hunter mentality, they show up every time and they do 100 percent everything that we do.”
One week remains of the June Forge sessions then the athletic department will take June 29-July 3 as an off week.
And the real fun begins after that. Athletic director and football head coach Keri Timmerman, strength-and-conditioning coordinator Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt and Beard-Hanrahan have emphasized the importance of attending Forge, especially in July for athletes who play a fall sport. That’s because those players will begin preparations for their seasons in August. By attending Forge, they’re getting their bodies acclimated to the summer heat and are getting in game shape so there’s less time spent on running and more time spent on skills, basics and the playbook.
Beard-Hanrahan noted that if the Lady Mustangs want to accomplish more this season, the work starts now.
“And that’s my expectation,” she said. “I had some really pinnacle seniors that I just graduated that were huge components to that mentality on the team this past season. They’re gone, but I think that my incoming seniors, my incoming juniors saw my expectations. They saw how far we went, and now they know that (this) is working. We don’t want to have teams look at us like we’re an easy win, then we fight tooth and nail for every point on the volleyball court, and you demand more from your teammates and from yourself.”
CAPTION: Coach Austin Silva explains to the Lady Mustangs stop-and-go drill he wants them to perform.
