Varsity volleyball player Mackenzie Ratcliff’s mom woke her up and told her she had broken the record. She didn’t believe it at first, but her mom kept telling her to check her phone. She opened Instagram and saw that the volleyball team account posted that she had broken the record for all-time career kills at RHS.
As she looked at her phone in shock, her mom said to her, “your name is going to be etched in the history of your high school.”
Ratcliff broke Sofia Alexander’s 3-year-old record of 1,061 as a junior, the first to accomplish the feat before their senior year.
A kill is an offensive attack made by a player that immediately results in a point, either by the ball hitting the floor on the other side or out of bounds off of an opponent tip.
Ratcliff said she feels happy breaking the record because the previous record holders were all seniors who have gone to great places like Natalie Perdue who’s now at SMU playing volleyball.
“I feel so honored because I broke her record, and I feel like it’s a big responsibility and a huge accomplishment to have broken that record,” Ratcliff said.
Volleyball coach Eric Miracle realized Ratcliff had broken the record when he reviewed their stats and discovered a game was missing. After plugging in that game’s stats, he saw Ratcliff’s total had surpassed the record. He knew beforehand that she was getting close, but he didn’t let her know until after it was official.
“I always like to surprise them with stuff like that,” Miracle said.
Senior varsity volleyball player MJ Cordero, who’s played alongside Ratcliff for three years, said she was not surprised that she broke the record because of her attitude and perseverance.
“I knew she was going to do it, and I’m so beyond proud,” Cordero said.
Ratcliff said breaking the record was a difficult accomplishment, especially since it was over the span of three years instead of four.
“I was not prepared to break this record,” Ratcliff said. “It’s just something that adds on and builds up.”
Ratcliff said she’s become much better at scoring kills since freshman year. Going into her sophomore year, she switched from middle hitter to outside hitter after realizing it wasn’t going to work out due to her shorter height. Now, as an outside hitter, Ratcliff has found more success and opportunities to score kills.
Cordero said it’s astonishing to watch Ratcliff do a kill every time she sets her.
“It’s like a gift to see the result of her hitting it,” Cordero said.
She said Ratcliff reminds her of Alexander, because they’re both aggressive in the court and always have their sights on the ball. Every time Cordero sets the ball to them, she could trust them to hit it, even if it’s a bad set.
“Honestly, just seeing [Ratcliff] surpass her, it’s like passing on the torch, and I love that,” Cordero said.
Miracle coached the three previous All-Time Career Kills record holders and said he loves preserving the program’s history, because it means a great deal to him.
“It’s like the stepping stones of where we are now,” Miracle said.
Miracle said Ratcliff is always in a good mood when it comes to volleyball and is ready to celebrate other people when they do well.
“I think her achievements are a reflection of all of that because everybody wants to play with that,” Miracle said.
He also said Ratfcliff continues to improve each year and sees her reaching 1,500 kills by her senior year. However, the team plans to keep their usual routine since they view records as achievements and not something they strive for.
Ratcliff said holding the all-time career kills record brings pressure because it puts her in the spotlight. She said that while it’s already a big accomplishment, adding to the record will make it an even bigger deal.
But she still hopes to maintain her record and add even more kills by her senior year, so it’s harder to break. To achieve that, she plans to focus more on practicing on and off the season, while also training a lot as she heads into club season.
“Then hopefully when I come back I make that number bigger,” Ratcliff said.
