Faith Academy volleyball’s Claiborne sets milestone

CAPTION: Sophomore hitter Ella Claiborne records one of her 517 kills, a new personal milestone for the youngster. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls volleyball team scorched San Antonio Keystone 25-7, 25-7, 25-12 Sept. 30 to remain in third place in District 4-3A of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.

In the process, sophomore hitter Ella Claiborne earned her 500th career kill, a milestone the Lady Flames (20-6, 4-1) celebrated after the victory.

Head coach Erin Sawyer commended the sophomore, who had 240 kills as a freshman, for a number of reasons.

The first is a position change. As a freshman, Claiborne was a middle blocker. This year Claiborne has moved to the outside and typically doesn’t rotate out. So she also serves and is a defensive specialist.

Learning those positions illustrates plenty about her, the coach said.

“She’s competitive and she’s got drive,” Sawyer said. “She wants to work hard and be the best. She’s actually right now at 510, so she got 17 kills (Sept. 30). She only needed seven to meet that 500 goal, and then she exceeded that by another 10 kills.”

Sawyer said she didn’t believe “it was that common” for a sophomore to earn that many kills while playing in 144 sets. Claiborne has a kill percentage of 39.1 and a hitting percentage of .231. She has half the errors she did a year ago while playing in eight more sets.

“We still have a month of district left over to play,” the coach said. “I think that’s pretty impressive. Last year she played middle and she had like 240 (kills). So she’s already exceeded that. We still have a month of district left over to play. I’m just really impressed with her and her hitting percentage. She’s pretty efficient whenever she does hit.”

Sawyer moved Claiborne to the outside for several reasons. First, her height and natural build make her an ideal outside hitter. Second, her athleticism makes it easier for her to handle sets that may not be perfectly thrown to her. And finally, her desire to play on the next level gives her and college coaches options.

“I have to look at what Ellas is,” the coach said. “Her height, her strength – I just think that her swing alone has a lot of potential. And a lot of times if you’re tall, coaches just slide you into the middle. That’s what happened to me. I’m not even 5 (feet) and 10 (inches). I was a middle and I played in college as a right (side hitter). I’m 5-9. I didn’t want her to get pigeonholed, even though she wasn’t quite 6 foot yet. Now, she is, but I just didn’t want her to be pigeonholed as a middle when she had that kind of arm swing and can hit so much better than what she could do as a middle. So I just saw a different potential in her, and I didn’t want to put her in that little hole.”

Sawyer added outside hitters have more time to adjust to where the ball is set as opposed to middle blockers, who want short, quick sets.

“Everything is usually run really quick as a middle,” she said. “I’m not a big person, but I had great lateral ability. And Ella can do all that, but she is very athletic. So she can move easily.”

The other fun part about Claiborne’s game? How she reacts to a kill. She turns towards her teammates and looks like she’s roaring in celebration.

“When she’s on fire, everybody gets on fire,” Sawyer said. “And then when she swings, it just changes the whole dynamic of everything. So it’s great. It’s great to watch. I’m really enjoying coaching this team.” 

Faith Academy travels to play at San Marcos Academy Thursday, Oct. 2, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity to follow.