Faith Academy volleyball is regional champs
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls volleyball team beat Temple Central Texas Christian 3-1 Nov. 9 in a regional final of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
That means the Lady Flames (18-18-2, 7-5 third in District 4-3A), who hadn’t won a playoff game in school history until this season, will play at the Class 3A state tournament. They will face Spring Providence Classical School at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, at Waco Robinson High School in a state semifinal.
“I am so proud of these girls,” head coach Erin Sawyer said. “They play well and unselfishly. I prayed over each girl before I got out of bed. I told them it’s effort over outcome.”
Faith won 25-17, 26-24, 14-25, 25-23. Junior middle blocker Natalie Weems had the winning kill on a tip to send the Lady Flames to the state tournament.
The Lady Flames and the Lady Lions (35-17, 12-0 District 4-3A champions) are in the same district. CTC beat Faith in both district matches en route to winning the district title.
But the Lady Flames made two important discoveries that helped when the two teams faced off for the fourth time this season.
The first is that Faith should have won the third time the two played. Sawyer noted the Lady Flames won the first set 25-20 and lost the second game 26-28 and the final set 14-16. That loss gave the Lady Flames a sense of unfinished business and confidence if the two met in the playoffs.
The other discovery was in how to defend CTC sophomore hitter Hayleigh Hennig, who had 27 kills during the five-set win against Faith. Weems stayed on the front row and “had some great blocks,” Sawyer said.
“(Hennig is) very good,” Sawyer said. “Our goal was to get her outside of her normal and get her out of her system so that she wouldn’t get into any type of role. It’s where they don’t have a normal bump, set, swing. It’s where she acts out of her normal role. It changes and adjusts her attitude. It puts them out of rhythm and slows things down a little bit. Their outside hitters couldn’t get a good swing. They were getting frustrated and they’re making mistakes they don’t normally do. We were trying to take her out of the picture.”
An injury forced the coach to keep senior Jillian Martin on the floor to play every position. Senior Abbye Blackington had a kill on a bad CTC pass where “she came down and happy birthdayed her in the face,” Sawyer said. That injury also allowed Sawyer to move junior varsity player Miley Fessler to the playoff roster.
The quality depth of the roster allowed substitutions to be made without a drop-off in intensity.
“(Fessler) had a couple of good touches,” the coach said. “We adjusted well. It’s all a tight-knit group. We all played well together. We had good vibes from our families and friends.”
As the players were warming up, the Lady Flames saw the Lady Lions didn’t seem as emboldened as they were during district play.
“We came in ready to play,” Sawyer said. “Everybody put in something.”
