Marble Falls volleyball focuses on 3 matches
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior Payton Dunk (left) and junior Katie Terrell form a tough wall along the net. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School volleyball team is in the same spot it was days earlier.
The Lady Mustangs (12-13, 3-6) have three matches left in the regular season beginning with a road trip to Lampasas Friday, Oct. 17, a home date against Taylor Tuesday, Oct. 21, and back on the road to Jarrell Friday, Oct. 24. Subvarsities play at 5 p.m. and the varsity follows at 6 p.m.
If the Lady Mustangs can replicate what they did in the first round — beat all three teams — they will clinch a playoff spot for the first time in two decades.
“if we beat them outright yeah, we’re good to go, we are good to go, and that’s the plan,” head coach Zoey Beard-Hanrahan said. “We’ve done it before. Some of those games were close. But we would show up for them.”
Because she believes that each squad in the district has improved since Marble Falls faced them, she is telling her Lady Mustangs to prepare to get Lampasas, Taylor and Jarrell’s best, especially since these opponents still have a shot at making that final playoff spot very interesting.
“They become a major factor into it, too,” Beard-Hanrahan said. “The first round might have been tough, but this is a tough distric, and anything can happen depending on the kind of mentality you have whenever you’re going forward.”
Before the match against Taylor, the program will honor its seniors. Beard-Hanrahan believes it’ll be an emotional night because of that on top of having a good crowd at Max Copeland Gym.
“I don’t expect that same Taylor team (in the first round) to show up,” she said. “Taylor has some talented girls on that team. I think volleyball is just such an emotionally high game. I’m just hoping that our emotions don’t get the best of us, and we just play the game we know how to play and that we’ve been playing all season.”
The Lady Mustangs lost to Salado, ranked No. 11 in the Class 4A poll of the Texas Girls Coaches Association, 13-25, 17-25, 21-25 Oct. 14.
“We didn’t start very strong,” the coach said. “We improved every single set. We just had a rough start, Salado was serving short on us. And we just couldn’t adjust fast enough. It’s just another thing I had to add to going over and practice, because our serve-receive is normally very strong. But there’s just something about playing a team like. It’s not a secret in this district. Salado is a juggernaut, and they’re just intimidating.”
Beard-Hanrahan said the practice a day earlier on Columbus Day told her the Lady Mustangs were ready to battle.
“Monday’s practice looked so good, and we had a really high pace practice,” she said. “I got up on the box and I was just wailing balls at them trying to simulate (the Lady Eagles’ hits), just a little bit of what we were going to see. My girls were flying everywhere.”
The coach was especially curious to see how her players would respond as the match played out.
“What I was looking for that night was just for us to stay mentally strong especially moving ahead,” she said, “because these next three matches are so important for us. Mentally strong was the big one just competing no matter what. I wanted us to make it hard on them. And it got there. Whenever we got to that second and third sets, I started seeing things that were really helping us shine.”
No matter where the next match is played and against whom, the coach said she has a question for her players.
“Where are my fighters at?” she said. “That’s what we’re focusing on. I was a competitor that they were afraid to go against. And I’ve got a few of those on my team that share that same mentality. With some teams, it seems like the whole team is on the same page when it comes to that. Now that we’re this close — we just have three matches that’ll determine it.”
CAPTION: Senior Kate Dykes (left) and junior Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa will be counted on make it difficult for hitters to get clean looks at open holes. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
