Faith Academy beats Waco Live Oak
CAPTION: Faith Academy sophomores Ella Claiborne (left) and Elizabeth Neely get fired up to play. Photo by Stennis Shotts
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls volleyball team swept Waco Live Oak 25-19, 25-22, 25-14 Oct. 14 in District 4-3A play of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The Lady Flames (24-6, 7-1) were led by junior Kerrington Silvers, who had 13 kills, four digs, an assist and three receptions and sophomore Ella Claiborne, who had 15 receptions, 13 digs, eight kills and two aces. Senior middle blocker Natalie Weems had four blocks.
Usually Claiborne is the kills leader. But she, along with senior libero Bosley Kuker, lead the back row efforts. Claiborne had 14 digs and 15 receptions. That allowed Silvers, who is second on the team in kills, to anchor the offensive threat.
“We have girls who can play all the way around,” head coach Erin Sawyer said. “Kerrington on the front row – we all trust her. What I’m asking them to do are things they aren’t normally comfortable with. We need to work on those things.”
That includes having a faster offense that requires the Lady Flames to make quicker decisions, especially if opponents decide to serve the ball to sophomore setter Olivia Kraenzel, which forces someone else to set the ball to a hitter. That means the teammate who gets the pass must decide who to set to quickly to have the best chance at winning the point.
“We’re adjusting our defensive sets to work on different plays,” Sawyer said. “We’re doing adjustments for people we’re playing down the road.”
Claiborne remains the TAPPS Class 3A kills leader at 332, while Weems is still the classification’s blocks leader at 83. Kuker is second in digs at 327 behind Live Oak junior Stella Sriram, who has 343.
“She digs everything,” the coach said of Sriram. “I was very impressed with her work.”
The Lady Flames are at San Antonio Keystone Thursday, Oct. 16, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity follow. They will play their third match this week when they welcome Austin San Juan Diego Saturday, Oct. 18, with the junior varsity playing at 1 p.m. and the varsity at 2 p.m. Then they travel to Temple Central Texas Christian (34-3-1, 8-0) Tuesday, Oct. 21, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m. and finish at home against San Marcos Academy Thursday, Oct. 23, with the junior varsity taking the court at 5 p.m. and the varsity to follow at 6 p.m.
“I still want to have full effort from everybody,” Sawyer said. “We can’t be complacent. We’re still used to fighting for everything. We want to go farther.”
CAPTION: Junior Kerrington Silvers uses another tool to score a point for the Lady Flames – a dink — to lead them to victory. Photo by Stennis Shotts
