Back on Oct. 22, 2011 Ava Permenter was two years old.
“I didn’t even know what volleyball was then,” said Permenter, today a senior libero for the defending Class 3A Division I volleyball state champion Bushland High Lady Falcons. “Now it’s such a part of my life I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
On Saturday, the reason Permenter was asked about Oct. 22, 2011 is that’s the day Bushland swept past Childress 3-0 in a district match.
Who knew the last district match of 2011 was the start of an unfathomable streak alive and kicking today at 5,092 days, or 18 days short of 14 years.
On Oct. 4, 2025 – yes, Saturday – Bushland visited River Road and swept past the Lady Cats 3-0 in a District 1-3A match pushing Bushland’s district win streak to an out-of-this world number of 100.
No typo there.
O-N-E H-U-N-D-R-E-D!
“That’s a crazy number,” said Permenter, who has two older sisters, Jada and Jacy, who played for the Lady Falcons and contributed their sweat and tears to the streak. “It’s Bushland pride. We are just really happy to be a part of it.”
Awww, contributions to The Streak is a history lesson in Bushland volleyball, and, even U.S. history.
During the nearly 14-year streak four coaches contributed to the 100 wins in Clark Inskeep (1 win), Janeen Eudy (44 wins), Tori Blankenship (8 wins) and current coach Jason Culpepper (47 wins).
Under Eudy (2012-18), Bushland won two state championships. Under Culpepper (2019 to present), Bushland owns four state championships.
So, during The Streak six state championships have been captured.
So, during the entire streak Scott Sims has been a coach at Bushland in various capacities including freshman and junior high volleyball. Sims has been at Bushland 22 years (he also was head girls basketball coach) and is currently coaching junior high volleyball, and assisting in girls basketball and track. Sims’ three daughters Jalee, Ansley and Mackenzie each spent loads of time in the volleyball program contributing to The Streak.
“The streak is due to the consistent work and commitment to the program over many, many years,” Sims said. “The girls, coaches, parent and community take a lot of pride in this streak. But, always the main goal is a state championship. The streak is incredible. We have competed in 2A, 4A and now 3A during that time. It’s a tribute to many athletes, coaches, administration and parents.”
The Streak has lasted so long it started NINE years before The Pandemic and that curse word Covid-19.
Yet, The Streak reaching 100 Saturday afternoon wasn’t cause for a wild celebration of say Coach Culpepper ripping off a cartwheel or backflip after the win, or the players piling on each on the court like a World Series celebration takes place on the mound.
There was a ballon formation making the number 100 held up during a photo which included players, former players and coaches. There were smiles, hugs and grins galore.
But all-in-all pretty calm for such a historic streak. And the reason is pretty simple. This team is about one thing: winning state championships.
Permenter said being apart of the 100th win of The Streak “is really special to us. To see people come back who were apart of the streak and watch today meant a lot to us. We were all really nervous for this one because we knew a lot of people were going to be here so we had to work really hard to win before.”
Permenter also said the force behind the last 47 district wins is a strict but fair Coach Culpepper.
“Coach Culpepper is tough,” Permenter said. “But he’s really motivating. The first day of practice we talk about state and what it takes to get there. And then every day we visualize ourselves getting there to state. We are really excited to keep going and win it again.”
Culpepper is not one to jump in front of TV cameras for publicity and say look at me. He can step out of the limelight with the best of them.
However, since taking over Bushland in 2019 numbers don’t lie and Culpepper has a resume of coaching resumes: four state championships; six state tournament appearances; 47-0 in district matches; 232-18 overall record (.928 winning percentage); oh, and by the way, six state tournament appearances and a state championship in 2009 while coaching Randall High.
Culpepper and his Lady Falcons improved to 30-8 and 3-0 in District 1-3A with the 25-14, 25-9 15-13 win over Rover Road.
Culpepper said the pressure to keep the streak alive for team after team is real and reaching 100 straight district wins isn’t about one person or one team. He praised Inskeep and Eudy for their excellence in running the Bushland program and called when he coached for Randall against Bushland those matches “were a lot of fun and great games. It’s a community that wants their girls to play volleyball and get better at volleyball. I’m lucky to be a apart of it.”
Culpepper said he and players never talk about The Streak “only how we can get better. That’s how we were able to get to 100 is how we can improve each day.”
Culpepper was thankful for the 150 or so fans dressed in black Bushland volleyball shirts for attending the match, along with former Lady Falcon players.
“What 100 means is we have a great community that is tradition rich and they want to be better every day,” Culpepper said. “And that started in 2011 and I’m just lucky to be a part of the last part of it. We have and have had some great kids and some good state championship teams. It’s about our community coming together and wanting to be winners. The girls are hard workers and it shows through these 100 wins.”
From Oct. 22, 2011 to Oct. 4, 2025, from Ava Permenter celebrating her second birthday to loving her senior season of volleyball, from Coach Inskeep to Coach Culpepper, no matter how you look at it, a 100-match win streak is a long, long, long time of playing some amazing volleyball wearing the black and gold of Bushland High.
