LIPAN - Cue Al Michales, circa 1980.

“Do you believe in miracles … yes!”

That iconic sports moment was recreated here Tuesday at the Lipan High School gym, where the Wylie Lady Bulldogs took down the No. 1 ranked Class 5A volleyball team in Texas.

After back-to-back 3-0 losses to Argyle in the third round of the Division II playoffs, Wylie instead sent the Lady Eagles back home with an emphatic 3-1 win before a raucous crowd.

The set scores were 26-24, 18-25, 25-23, 25-16.

Coach Shay Cox’s team won its 38th match of the year and the right to take on Colleyville Heritage, which advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-15 25-22) win over Celina.

The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at a “neutral” site, Prosper High School. Prosper is between Denton and McKinney in the north DFW area. It’s just 38 miles from the Heritage campus; Wylie will be making a 215-mile trip east.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Wylie won 2-0 in tournament play. Heritage then lost to Southlake Carroll to fall to 6-5; the Panthers finished 37-7, winning its four playoff matches by 12-1.

Wylie is ranked No. 4 in the latest 5A state poll, while Colleyville Heritage is No. 5.

“I’m so happy we got this milestone done, but we’re not done. We’re not finished,,” senior Haddie Mock said. “We’re hoping to get to state.”

It has been a big week for Wylie volleyball, which downed then-No. 6 Eagle Mountain to win in the Class 5A third round for the first time. The Lady Bulldogs then finally defeated Argyle, which closed at 38-6.

The Lady Eagles finished as the Division II runnerup in 2025, falling to Cedar Park in the final. They lost to eventual state champ Wakeland 3-2 in the 2024 semifinals after eliminating Wylie.

Cox in 34 years of coaching never has taken a team this far.

“What a crowd. What a night. I mean, point for point,” Cox said between hugs and photo ops. “It is surreal. It’s unbelievable.”

GIANT VS GIANT

Although the U.S. hockey team in 1980 was a clear underdog to Russia, Tuesday’s volleyball match pitted two Texas powerhouses..

The setting was electric, with fans of both teams finding their way to the unusually rural setting for an Elite Eight match. It was apparent there was an abundance of energy on the Wylie side, and that charge only intensified as Wylie won the opener 26-24.

“It was amazing. We started off really strong, and a ton of friends and family came to support us here,” Mock said.

The final point was scored at the net by Kiki Bolden, who fell to the floor to pound her fist in joy.

“That first set really got us going,” Mock said.

The set was tied 18 times and Wylie led only seven times.

The score was locked at 23 after a point by Jenna Stricklin, who had 11 to match her jersey number. Shiloh Bridges’ block scored for Argyle to put the Eagles up a point before a net serve with the set on the line sailed into the net to tie the score at 24.

Haddie Mock, who had 19 kills in the match, hit a crosscourt winner. Her shots coming from behind the setter and going the other opposite direction with her shot were almost unstoppable.

Argyle, down 25-24, called timeout but Bolden rejected an Eagles shot at the net to win it for Wylie.

The win boosted the Lady Bulldogs’ belief.

“Definitely, definitely,” Cox said. “We talked about that in practice. It was going to be hard. We did hard drills but I told them this would be nothing. Tomorrow would be hard.

“Everything you want is on the other side of hard. But we knew after Set 1 that we could do this. Stay in ourselves and stay focused.”

If the Lady Bulldogs have had trouble this season, it’s in the second set.

It happened again Tuesday, with Argyle bolting to a 6-1 lead as Wylie had two errors and the Eagles added a service winner.

Wylie battled back, something the 2025 team may not have done, to tie it at 7 when Betsy Zhang hit wide.

The Lady Bulldogs expended all their momentum getting back in it. Argyle rattled off six straight points to go up 13-7. Wylie could not get closer than three points, the last at 20-17 on a block winner by Stricklin at the net.

The Lady Bulldogs tightened, committing three straight errors before Mock scored to make it 23-18. Argyle closed the set with a winner to the back corner by Alexis Elsey.

The sophomore was nothing short of dominating at times.

Cox said Wylie’s strategy was to attack when she was on the back row.

“When she’s on the front row, she’s hard to stop,” the Wylie coach said. “You hope she messes up on her own.”

Wylie and Argyle battled for the last point, with Elsey again providing the winner as the Eagles won by seven points.

That was the largest differential in the match until the very end.

Mock admitted her team has struggled at times in Set 2 after a sizzling Set 1, “but I think we’ve gotten used to it and were comfortable. We were able to bounce back.”

BRINGING IT HOME

But not against Argyle the previous two years.

The teams traded sides, and the Lipan gym was much quieter than it had been after Set 1.

Argyle ramped up by winning the first point of Set 3. A Mock winner tied it, and another tight set was underway.

The score was tied 13 more times although Wylie played from in front most of the way.

The Lady Bulldogs led by three, 8-5, and by two, 15-13 but could not pull away.

Argyle hung with Wylie and even took leads at 13-12, 17-16, and 19-18 on a block by Elsey.

Another Mock score after Morgan Beard played the serve tied the match at 19.

It was at 20-20 that Wylie made its move.

Mock scored yet again to give her team the lead for good. A net serve by Elsey put the Lady Bulldogs a point from the win at 24-22 but the Lady Eagles prevailed again.

A spike to the Argyle back row by D’Nae Dolton secured the win for Wylie at 25-23.

She had 14 kills.

The victory sent a zing through the Wylie side of the gym because an upset seemed possible.

To do that, Wylie had to go back to the side of the court where the Lady Bulldogs lost Set 2.

“After we won that third set and came over to the other side, I told the girls ‘All we have to do is win by two. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Just play one point at a time.

“And that’s what we did.”

This time, it was Wylie that took the upper hand. It was Argyle, perhaps tiring from the intensity, that made more mistakes.

Wylie took a 5-3 lead and made it a six-point advantage - the Lady Bulldogs' biggest advantage of the night - at 11-5 as Zhang hit long.

Argyle called time-out but this time, the break didn’t alter the set.

Wylie pushed its lead to eight points before the Lady Eagles rallied. Zhang found open court to cut her team’s deficit to 16-12 but Mock came through again to stop the momentum.

When a block by Stricklin scored to give Wylie a 20-14 lead, the team and the crowd sensed the kill.

Here is how it played out:

21-14, Elsey hits long
22-14, Stricklin again with a winner
22-15, Elsey winner
23-15, Dolton hits by Argyle’s Claire Coffman at the back row
24-15, Bolden kill
24-16, Bolden mishit
25-16, Argyle into the net

Pandemonium ensued. The Lady Bulldogs scrummed at the Indian logo at the center of the court as the crowd roared and phone videos rolled.

ALL ABOUT THE DEFENSE

Wylie’s defense sparkled Tuesday. Argyle got its great shots, many by the 6-foot-2 Elsey. Yet, the Lady Bulldogs saved many points with hustle or simply being in the right place and handling hard shots.

“Our defense was great. Especially Morgan,” Mock said.

Cox agreed.

“She was flying all over the place. Even when she was in the right spot but the ball deflected off hands, she was still in the right spot,” the Wylie coach said of Bearden. “Our defense has just been coming on. They have been working hard. They know where they want to be, they talk to each other on the floor. I can’t say enough about our defense.”

Bearden, a junior, was everywhere on the court to keep play going or to set up the hitters. She had 16 digs, with Bolden adding 14 more. At the net, Wylie had seven blocks, four by Stricklin.

“They have some big, really good girls but our defense adjusted really well,” Bearden said.

How did she rate her effort against the No. 1 team ?

“Ten,” she shouted, smiling. “I’ve been preparing for this all season. I have been waiting for this.”

When the volleyball hit the floor for the last point, it took a moment to realize the hard work had paid off.

“Not real,” Bearden said. “Not real. We’re so excited. I love our fans. I am glad we had so many come. We love them..”

Won and done?

“Nope,” she said. “We have two more to go.”