Langley High School Spikes Second Straight State Girls Volleyball Title
The Langley High School Girls Volleyball team — last year’s state champs — started this season down four of the six starters that led them to a state title last year. Undeterred, the team and the coaches doubled down, embracing six days a week of practice during the playoffs, to emerge with a second consecutive state championship this year.
“We knew that the season would look different, but there was never any doubt that the same mindset would carry over,” co-captain Amber Smith, a senior, said. “Once we won our first few scrimmages without a fully healthy roster, we realized how versatile and full of potential the group was.”
Coach Susan Shifflett, who’s led the Saxons volleyball program since 1998, said the loss of the prior year’s starters pushed the team and her staff to expand their horizons to rise to the challenge.
“We had girls who played on the freshmen team as freshman, as sophomores were on the junior varsity team, as juniors were back-up players, now have their opportunity, knowing what it takes to win a state title,” Shifflett said. “They were waiting, watching, and learning and were more than ready. Every single position stepped up. We had a freshman — not even on my radar prior to tryouts — who caught my eye on day two of evaluation as someone worth looking at, who wound up with the best hitting percentage in state finals and delivered the game winner shot.”
Shifflett credits the Langley community for developing its girls volleyball program, which has won four state championships since 2013.
“There’s obviously a talent level here that helps a lot,” Shifflett said. “We’re in an area where when they’re invested in something, the family is all in behind it and that matters. The kids are doing club volleyball as they grow up, the parents are supportive of that commitment. But for a team to be this successful above the rest it requires camaraderie and this group is particularly tight.”
Co-captain Amber, who plans to play club volleyball next year in college, agrees.
“This team is definitely special and put in a lot of time and effort to reach our level of performance,” Amber said. “The twice daily practices plus conditioning during August led to six days of practice every week during the postseason. There were essentially no exceptions to this schedule, and I think that it was a combination of Coach Shifflett’s confidence in our abilities along with a strong sense of focus and passion that allowed us to push ourselves during training.”
The team embodies the definition of student athletes, Shifflett says, with an average 4.1 GPA across the roster.
“They are the whole package, this is a serious commitment and they have to be committed to schoolwork too,” she said.
Langley Principal Lawrence Stroud echoes the praise for the team and says it reflects on the school community overall.
“This accomplishment and the many successes of our girls' volleyball program under Coach Shifflett's leadership demonstrate the power of collaboration and perseverance — values that define our culture at Langley,” Stroud said. “Winning back-to-back titles reflects the hard work and dedication of our student athletes, coaches, and school community.”
Read more about the FCPS Strategic Plan; extracurricular participation is embodied in Goal #2 of the plan, which aims to ensure student health and well-being are prioritized.
