photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State Firebirds celebrate after a block by junior Marlea Copeland, left, in a state volleyball match against Mill Valley on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Overland Park.

OVERLAND PARK — Free State volleyball’s season ended on the first day of the 6A state tournament as the Firebirds went 1-2 in pool play.

It was a sad ending to the Free State season, but the accomplishments the team had in the first year under coach Joel Grillot will be hard to top. Grillot said the team “had a shot in any match we had.”

“This team in general had a lot of the pieces we’ve been hoping for for some many years to make a run at this thing,” Grillot said. “We competed in every single match we played, regardless of what the score said. That’s where I felt this team was so good: They never stopped fighting.”

The players recognized it too, and playing together was special. For the seniors, it was a long time coming for the group from club volleyball to four years at Free State to have the potential this team had.

“It’s been so fun, just our friendships and everything like bus rides and hotel stays are so fun,” senior Tessa Nover-Estes said. “It’s just fun to be around players who love the game and coaches who love the game. It creates a special bond. I’ll be sad to leave it, for sure.”

The No. 4 Firebirds started with a pool play match against No. 5 Blue Valley in a closely contested back-and-forth match. The game went to three sets, with the Firebirds winning the middle but losing the first and third.

The first set was the closest, with Blue Valley winning 25-22. But the Firebirds fought back and won the second set 25-17.

“I don’t think they ever thought they were really out of it,” Grillot said of the Firebirds’ fight in the second set. “They believed that they could come back and win that match. They never stopped believing, and with a few points here or there, we’d be sitting at 2-1 instead.”

Blue Valley got the best of Free State in the final set, winning 25-16. The loss ended up being very costly, as it put Free State behind on tiebreakers.

“We thought we saw some things on film that we could exploit today, and we did a little bit in that second set,” Grillot said. “But we didn’t do enough. That match was the swing match between advancing to Saturday and going home today.”

The Firebirds didn’t hold back after the loss and won its next match against No. 8 Blue Valley North in three sets. Free State lost the first set 25-21 but bounced back to defeat the Mustangs by the same score in set two. To win the match, Free State won 25-22.

“Pressure at the service line has been our key all season long,” Grillot said. “When we’re playing our best, we’re serving aggressively, keeping teams out of system and allowing our block to set up across the net.”

That put Free State at 1-1 and needing a sweep of undefeated No. 1 Mill Valley to have a chance at qualifying for Saturday.

Free State came out strong in the first set against Mill Valley. Nover-Estes got the first point with a block, and sophomore Brinley Whitney had an ace to put the Firebirds up early. The Jaguars didn’t stay scoreless for long, but the Firebirds kept their early lead with some blocks and an emphatic kill by senior Anniston Clark.

“We came at it with a lot of energy, just leaving it all out on the court,” Nover-Estes said. “We really wanted to win. We really wanted to be the team to get to the second day, but they put up a good fight.”

Mill Valley tied the set at 9-9, and the set stayed within a point for the next 13 points. Another kill from Clark triggered a Mill Valley timeout with the Firebirds up 16-15.

A big key to Free State’s strong start was how the team stayed in system. The Firebirds battled and served well, which kept the Jaguars’ hitters from having as much of an impact as they’re used to.

Mill Valley responded after the timeout and scored a few points to force a Free State timeout. Junior Marlea Copeland started play back up with a block to keep the game within a point. But the Jaguars started to separate late and finished on a 7-3 run to win the set 25-20.

With the set loss, the Firebirds started to play tight and let a few too many mistakes compound. Grillot called the first timeout with the Jaguars up 7-3 and called his second after the Jaguars pushed the lead to 11-4.

“We just ran out of gas,” Grillot said. “Some of our players were running out of gas and some of our nerves started to creep back in because they started to be in system a little more. Mill Valley is a good team with good hitters, and when they’re in system, they’re hard to slow down.”

Free State fared better after the second timeout but still were unable to keep pace with Mill Valley. The Jaguars finished the set with a 25-12 win to take the match.

The Free State season ended in the state tournament for the second year in a row. This year was a little different, with it being Grillot’s first as the head coach after a long tenure as the assistant. Reaching state was always a crucial goal for this year’s squad, and the team accomplished it in large part because of the team’s leadership.

“(The seniors) did a really good job of mentoring our young girls and bringing them along, because we knew that we had so many quality pieces from seniors all the way down,” Grillot said. “The senior group knew we were going to need some of those younger girls, and they did a really good job of leading both by example and by voice.”