Marble Falls volleyball is Hill Country Takeover runner-up

CAPTION: Marble Falls seniors Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa (17) and Delilah Guzman form a wall at the net ensure the Lady Mustangs won the point against Thrall in the second set. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Marble Falls High School volleyball team took second at its own Hill Country Takeover tournament Aug. 19-21.

The Lady Mustangs lost to Brenham in the championship after starting the second day as the No. 5 seed and disposing of Thrall 25-23, 25-23.

They began the event with a 25-18, 25-18 victory against Texas Lions Academy before losing to Blanco 25-16, 19-25, 25-27, Brenham 15-25, 13-25 and Fredericksburg 21-25, 24-26.

One tournament trait is that head coach Zoey Beard-Hanrahan was able to play multiple Lady Mustangs, allowing the squad to create depth. That was especially apparent in how the match against Thrall ended with Paige Jamail, Brenna Wilde, Jill Cole, Caydence Bielfeldt and Brighton Bernard on the floor winning the final point for the victory.

Bernard and Wilde are returning lettermen. The others are in their first year on the varsity.

“It makes me incredibly proud,” Beard-Hanrahan said of that unit. “I’m challenging them to have a short memory when it comes to our mistakes and to keep pushing through because everybody on this team is extremely capable. I think it’s the belief in yourself and the believing in each other that we’re really still working on. But it’s coming, it’s coming together.”

Beard-Hanrahan noted throughout the summer this year’s Lady Mustangs were going to have some experienced players such as seniors Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa, Katie Terrell and Hannah Welch. The trio has logged numerous rotations together and very little surprises them, illustrating they may have the most experience on the roster.

And Beard-Hanrahan has pointed out that the new Lady Mustangs have natural ability and talent. Right now it’s about learning each other’s habits and comfort.

No better example of that was the connection between middle-blocker Mitchell-Ochoa and setter Bielfeldt. Every time the Lady Mustangs needed a point when the senior was on the court, the setter didn’t hesitate to go to her. And Mitchell-Ochoa delivered. Their work excited their coach.

“When you got a hot and Amaris had a hot hand, I wanted to keep forcing it until they can stop her,” Beard-Hanrahan said. “Any other coach would want to do the same thing – feed that person who can get the job done. And then Caydence felt that, too, that Amaris was the go-to and it was a little bit of a struggle at the beginning to get that connection. But once they found it, it was great.”

The other encouraging component came from the Lady Mustangs’ defense. The front row forced Thrall to adjust to its block by going to more dinks and dumps. That allowed the back row to be in the right spots to dig the balls and pass to Bielfeldt or Welch to get the offense going.

“It’s a big thing right now working on our defense and making sure they can trust and communicate well together because those teams that do those things well like Brenham is a good indicator of that,” Beard-Hanrahan said. “They are constantly communicating. They are constantly moving, they trust each other. When one says it’s going to be mine, she’s going to get that ball up. It’s cohesive, it looks like a beautiful working machine, and that’s what we’re really working to get to right now. I think there’s still some uncertainty on certain balls, but eventually it has to turn into just trusting a teammate.”

Marble Falls welcomes Copperas Cove Tuesday, Aug. 25, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6 p.m. Then the Lady Mustangs play in the Seguin Matador Classic Volleyball Tournament Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 27-29. Marble Falls begins pool play against San Antonio Taft at 10 a.m., Schertz Steele at 11 a.m. and Gregory Portland at 1 p.m.

CAPTION: Junior setter Caydence Bielfeldt (12) sets the ball toward senior middle blocker Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa, who is throwing her arms back to get ready to leap and spike the ball to end the rally. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography