Members of Clear Creek's 2016 volleyball team returned to Carlisle Field House on Friday, Sept. 25, a decade after reaching the Class 6A state championship match.

The pregame ceremony honored a squad that went 48-5 overall and 14-0 in District 24-6A play during the 2016 season, as first reported by James LaCombe of The Daily News. Alumni slipped on their old jerseys, posed for an updated team photo and were greeted with displays of trophies and match footage from the 2016 postseason.

That postseason run included six playoff victories with only one set dropped before the Wildcats fell to Lewisville Hebron in straight sets in the state final on Nov. 19, 2016, according to UIL state tournament records. Hebron was the defending champion.

Among those in attendance were head coach Scott Simonds, assistant coaches Molly Ullmann, Greg Eanes and Stephanie Van Deusen, team manager Hailey Thibodeaux and players including Emma Wagenknecht Brady, Dasani Washington, Miranda Phelps, Kelsey Childers, Maddie Tippelt and Melissa McNeil.

Childers, a junior setter on the 2016 team who played collegiately at Houston and now lives in Austin, said the bond between teammates drove the season.

"We were a very talented team, but I think the reason we were so successful is because we were all best friends, we looked out for each other, and we cared about each other off the court," Childers said.

Tippelt, the team's senior libero who went on to play at Tulsa, now lives in Seabrook. She was expecting a baby girl at the time of the reunion. She said the 2016 squad stood out for its balance, with multiple offensive threats rather than one dominant hitter.

McNeil, a senior outside hitter who played at St. Edward's, is finishing medical school at Sam Houston State with a spring 2027 graduation ahead.

The team also brought along a piece of 2016 lore: a dwarf hamster named Hedwig that traveled with the squad to the state tournament in Garland that year.

Clear Creek's 2016 appearance was the program's sixth trip to the state tournament and its first since 2008, according to UIL all-time appearance records. The Wildcats' lone state title came in 1968.

After the ceremony, the current Clear Creek squad swept Clear Brook, the Clear Creek volleyball program posted on X.