Kennedy, Lady Rattlers keep rolling in win over Davenport

Friday's match against San Antonio Davenport was a pretty routine night for San Marcos, with one exception.

The Lady Rattlers defeated the Lady Wolves, 3-1 (25-10, 25-16, 18-25, 25-16), inside the Snake Pit in their final match before the start of district play. A jersey mix-up in the third set caused the game to twice be held up for long stretches, a point coming off the board for the hosts each time and knocking them out of rhythm, giving Davenport (12-15) the frame. But the team otherwise looked sharp the whole match and improved to 24-5 on the season.

The one chief difference in the win was the absence of head coach Jared Te’o, who is currently recovering from an illness. First-year assistant coach Glenn Kennedy was tapped as Te’o’s interim and has kept San Marcos afloat, leading the team to a pair of wins.

“We did well,” Kennedy said. “The girls are really coming together and my thing right now, with the changes that are happening is just like, being positive and keeping the energy on our side. And we did that really well.”

Before coming to San Marcos this summer, Kennedy was a head coach for four years at Texas City, leading the Lady Stingarees to a 15-8 overall record and a regional quarterfinal appearance in the 5A playoffs in 2020.

But Kennedy’s brother, Jagger, got a scholarship to play football and baseball at Hendrix College in Arkansas. To see Jagger play, Glenn needed less of a time commitment from his job.

“I just had to weigh my pros and cons,” Glenn said. “I just thought it'd be best to find a 6A program and take a backseat. And luckily, Coach Te'o here is one of my really good friends in the club world. So he made some shifts and opened a spot and we made it happen.”

Glenn and Te’o became acquainted while the former coached for Houston Stellar Volleyball Club and the latter for Austin Juniors Volleyball.

“He’s a huge get for us,” Te’o said last month before the season began.

Glenn said the school has been extremely welcoming since he arrived. And he being the interim while Te’o is out hasn’t affected his responsibilities too much, either. He said the San Marcos Volleyball coaches get bounced around and regularly have to fill in for each other during practices, getting involved with players at every level. Covering for Te'o in a varsity match isn’t all that much different.

The Lady Rattlers have taken a liking to him, too.

“I love Coach Kennedy,” senior outside hitter Maggie Walsh said. “He's great on defense. He's always helping me with my defense and staying low and always helping with the dumps.”

The purple and white will take a week to recover and begin District 26-6A competition on Friday at home against Austin Bowie (9-14) at 6:30 p.m. Glenn said Te’o is expected to return in time for the match.

But if not, San Marcos should still be in good hands under Kennedy’s watch.