The Chisum Lady Mustangs volleyball team has continued to improve under the watch of head coach Laura Nickerson. Now in her final season in the program, senior libero Kaci Williams has shown improvement with her defensive skills and leadership in helping Chisum to a 10-4 start on the season.
The Lady Mustangs began the season by winning their first eight games and, even though she had a late start to her volleyball career, Kaci has not shown it with her play thus far.
“I didn’t start little spikers until I was in fifth grade, which is really late for kids who want to stick with the sport long-term,” Kaci said. “All my friends talked me into doing it and I was really behind, but then I heard about this program called MVP with Mandy Bell at Prairiland. So I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s just try this out and I need help outside of little spikers practice because this is not cutting it.’ I started going to the MVP program with Mandy Bell and I probably would not be playing volleyball if it wasn’t for her. I don’t even think she knows that because she’s impacted so many different kids from MVP, and I don’t think I’ve had the chance to tell her that, but it’s all because of Mandy Bell.”
Bell is now Nickerson’s lead assistant on the varsity coaching staff and is once again a key presence for Kaci as a volleyball player. Along with Bell, the rest of the team and her supporters push Kaci to be better. Even though Kaci is admittedly her own worst critic, she sees the bigger picture with what the program is looking to accomplish, which has made her role and what it entails this season crystal clear.
“I’m super hard on myself as an athlete because I’m such a perfectionist in the classroom or with my appearance, and I carry that a lot into sports,” Kaci said. “I used to put way too much weight on myself as one member of the whole team, but this year I think I’ve really taken it upon myself to be a leader in the aspects of being vocal on the court, picking up my teammates, and not letting my emotions show if I make a mistake. I don’t want it to rub off on my teammates, and I want to always have the mindset of being able to come back in any game while overcoming mistakes.”
Even through uncertain times, Kaci takes pride in the school she plays for, and her father has helped push her to be her best through it all.
“I just really love being able to represent Chisum,” Kaci said. “I remember when I was younger, I was excited about being a varsity high school athlete in the future. It’s always been something I’ve looked forward to. I think it’s cool to be able to represent a team on the back of your jersey, and I definitely play with a lot of heart because of my dad. He’s always taught me to play with heart and to be a dedicated athlete. He’s always known I have a lot of potential even when I am too hard on myself…He’s been very supportive to me and to my team…Not to be cliche, but I always play every game like it’s my last because of COVID-19. I just want to make every moment count knowing that each game isn’t guaranteed.”
As she mentioned before, Kaci always dreamed of playing varsity sports. When she attended a basketball game as an elementary student, she got her first taste of how intense varsity sports can be.
“When I was in elementary school, I always looked up to the varsity athletes, and Pecos Hurley shattered the backboard at a basketball game one time,” Kaci said. “He’s the lead singer of a band called Pegs in the Rooftop, and yeah he shattered it. It may have been a weak backboard or something, but when I saw it, I just thought, ‘What the heck?’’
Although she feels Chisum may not have the reputation of other teams in the surrounding area, Kaci is eager to continue to stay hungry on the court with her teammates as they continue to earn people’s respect.
“Chisum hasn’t always been one of those schools that other districts are intimidated by,” Kaci said. “They see us as an easy opponent or someone who they can knock down easily when we get down on ourselves during a set. We’ve always been told during my time as a high school athlete that we haven’t reached our full potential, and I think we’ve met a lot of our higher goals this year. We’ve had more of a champion’s mentality this year…I think our confidence and team pride have both elevated. Someone else who has really helped us in these areas is Dustin Cope. He came on as the new strength coach my sophomore year with guns blazing. He taught us a lot about strength and conditioning, lifting weights, and with having confidence and drive in everything we do.”
Kaci likes to refuel in her own special ways — her quirky snack and beverage combinations had an obscure beginning, but they are a consistent part of her regular routine today.
“I have a seriously bad obsession with chocolate milk,” Kaci said, laughing. “I drink it every single morning, and I’ll probably just have three to five glasses randomly throughout the day when I’m at home — I just love chocolate milk. I also really like melting shredded cheese on popcorn. I don’t really know where I learned it from, but I just started doing it one day and I do it all the time now.”
Another favorite snack item of Kaci’s is fried chicken, especially when she is influenced by medicine during dental procedures. Kaci recalled one particular past instance that brought back memories of laughter and embarrassment.
“Along with chocolate milk and shredded cheese on popcorn, I absolutely love fried chicken — it’s my favorite food on the planet,” Kaci said, with laughter. “For whatever reason, every time I go under any anesthesia or laughing gas, I immediately want fried chicken. I don’t know why, but that’s just always what it’s been when I’ve had any dental work done. And, when I got my wisdom teeth removed, I immediately started asking the nurse where any fried chicken was as soon as I woke up. The nurse thought it would be funny to tell me that the current dentist office I was in used to be a Popeye’s. It made me so mad when she wouldn’t give me any chicken, and I started cussing at her in front of my mom and the surgeon…It was so embarrassing. The whole thing is on video.”
Whether she’s cooling off from a unique meal, driving back from school, or recovering after an intense volleyball game, Kaci unwinds from the stresses of day-to-day life in a classic yet simple way.
“One way to relieve my stress is probably listening to rock music,” Kaci said. “My favorite song ever is ‘Simple Man’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I don’t know why but every time that song comes on in my car, I just blare it and let it out as I sing along. That gets rid of a lot of my stress and I also have a bad obsession with online shopping…I got really bad about it with quarantine — I had a lot of packages sent to my house.”
Kaci will help lead her Lady Mustangs team into a key district tilt at home against rival Prairiland at 4:30 p.m. today. For more sports coverage, click here.
