Faith Academy volleyball beats San Marcos Academy
CAPTION: Faith Academy sophomore Ella Claiborne remains a force to be reckoned with as she can score from anywhere on the floor in a variety of ways. Photo by Stennis Shotts
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls volleyball team defeated San Marcos Academy 22-25, 25-20, 25-10, 25-20 Oct. 2 to end the first round of District 4-3A play of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
Sophomore Ella Claiborne led with 25 kills, 4 aces, 2 assists, a block, 14 digs and 15 receptions on serve receive.
“She’s still showing up, she’s still doing the things,” head coach Erin Sawyer said. “So very, very proud of her.”
Sawyer called the four-set win a nice bounce back after the first set.
“We didn’t play well at all,” she said. “We’ve been doing a lot of road trips so I don’t think the long bus ride was the issue. We just couldn’t get our stuff together. But in the first one, we started to get back into it. And then by the second set, we were fine.”
She pointed out the atmosphere truly was a home-court advantage for the Lady Bears.
“Parents yelling at us and the student section was getting kind of crazy,” she said. “I was just trying to encourage the girls to keep playing — it doesn’t matter, you know what’s going on — but they had to keep playing and just try to tune it out.”
Junior Ella Chavira also had 4 aces, while junior Kerrington Silvers recorded 11 kills, senior Natalie Weems had 7 blocks, senior Bosley Kuker had 30 digs and 30 receptions, and sophomore Olivia Kraenzel had 26 assists and 16 digs.
With the first round finished, Faith (21-6, 5-1) and Waco Live Oak (6-15, 5-2) are fighting for second in the standings behind Temple Central Texas Christian (32-3-1, 7-0). The Lady Flames are in firm control of their own destiny.
“Yes, it feels good,” Sawyer said. “It feels good. We have to be a little bit more focused and tuned into winning these next six matches, because we want to make sure we win and get a good place (in the postseason). We’re just looking forward to the playoffs and how to approach playoffs. We need to make sure we win our district games, but as soon as the playoffs roll around, you’re even more in tune with what’s going on and what we need to do to get it done. They need to be consistent.”
The Lady Flames will travel to play at Killeen Memorial Christian at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, in a non-district contest then go to San Antonio Lutheran Thursday, Oct. 9, with the junior varsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity to follow.
“I still am proud, but consistency is the big thing,” the coach said. “And then also some of the girls have their own little humps to get over.”
CAPTION: Faith Academy sophomore set Olivia Kraenzel has a monster match in helping her team earn another valuable road win. Photo by Stennis Shotts
