Randall is the 2024 Standard-Examiner All-Area Girls Volleyball Player of the Year.

Winning, as is the case for any prep squad come August, is a core part of what White’s instilled with the Jayhawks (23-8, 11-1 Region 17), coming off a fifth consecutive winning season as region co-champions alongside APA Draper, a team that’d become the measuring stick for Randall and St. Joseph during the back end of their campaign.

Opening the region slate with three consecutive wins, St. Joseph eyed a fourth notch jumping out to a two-set lead on APA Draper. The Eagles rallied back, winning the match in five sets and handing the Jayhawks their fifth loss as September drew to a close.

St. Joseph went on to win 14 of their next 16 dates, including a three-set sweep over Draper, to claim a share of the region title. Things panned out. But it’s that fifth regular-season loss on the road that itched Randall just enough to shift her team’s focus.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

“It actually really helped us in the end,” Randall said. “It made us push ourselves and reevaluate our goals for the end of the season. … After losing to (Draper), our original goal was always to win region but we had to reevaluate how we were going to do that.”

From that point, White noticed a serious change in her team’s mentality. Randall and her fellow seniors — Mackenzie Hernandez, Mimi Dewitte, Juliana Netherton, Ally Macaulay and Mady Yates — decided their team amounted to far more than simply getting back at Draper.

Each of those seniors competed alongside Randall since their days in junior high. She wasn’t about to let them down, and certainly not her coach either.

“(White)’s taught me how to grow as a leader,” Randall said. “Not necessarily as being the loudest on the court but leading by example. I’ve learned all of my volleyball IQ, and all of my skillsets, have come from her.”

White described Randall’s role in their mission as everything from “instrumental” to “unusual,” with the senior captain providing team-leading numbers with 283 total kills (.304 hitting percentage), 371 assists, 224 digs and 81 serving aces.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

“I asked a lot of Lizzie,” White said. “She not only had the role of our main setter but also I asked her to be our best hitter. … She had to be very versatile with her skillset this year for our team to be successful.”

The Jayhawks finished the season with a three-set playoff loss to San Juan, winning two total games between the championship and consolation brackets, and closing the book on Randall much sooner than she’d hoped.

While White certainly knows that feeling — it’s a regular sight for countless coaches every fall — there’s no doubt she knows Randall’s time at St. Joseph wasn’t without a lasting purpose.

In White’s opinion, Randall left arguably the biggest impact since the 2013 team coached by Ray Franklin while White served as assistant coach.

“It was emotional for all the seniors, but especially (Randall),” White said. “She’s a special player here at St. Joseph. I remember when she came in as a freshman, she was going to be special and a huge program of this volleyball program.”

Sure, there won’t be “St. Joseph” printed in the upcoming UHSAA record book indicating a state championship season. However, Randall’s lasting wish for her team doesn’t revolve around titles or the bragging rights that go with such an accomplishment.

Instead, Randall wants her younger teammates to push themselves and reap whatever comes their way.

“I know everybody wants to leave something behind,” Randall said. “I think I’d want most to leave behind for (the team) is just maybe my work ethic. It was great to be an example to the younger girls of how to strive to do your best and actually accomplish some of that.

“How to be determined and what that looks like, that’s the biggest thing I can leave on them.”

Randall plans to continue her education in Utah.

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.