Faith Academy volleyball shows plenty of positives in season opener

CAPTION: Cuyleigh Zimmerman (10) reacts to winning a point at the net with Ella Claiborne (20) as her teammates begin to surround her during the second set against Llano Aug. 10. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

Though the Faith Academy of Marble Falls volleyball team lost its opening match of the 2026 season, new head coach Rebekah Silvers commended her players for their desire to work for the results they want.

That was evident throughout the first week of practices Aug. 3-8.

“It was good,” she said. “We basically had two spots to fill. We added Alexi Lash and Cuyleigh Zimmerman. Super excited. I could tell that they’ve really put in the work; we’ve seen a lot of growth from them last year. They definitely stood out, and I think they knew that we were battling for just a couple of spots.”

The conversation about the Lady Flames begins with outside hitters Kerrington Silvers, a senior, and Ella Claiborne and setter Olivia Kraenzel, who are both juniors. All three led the Lady Flames to a 2-0 lead (25-16, 25-21) against Llano Aug. 10.

In those sets, Faith did virtually anything it wanted. Claiborne and Silvers were highly effective on the front row and the defense looked for a way to contain the two, so much so that Llano decided to go to single blockers instead of doubling to get more people who could dig the ball and pass to target. As a result, other opportunities opened for their teammates, who used a combination of kills, dinks and tips to find the holes in the Llano defense.

But the Lady Jackets, behind the serving of freshman setter Hadley Harris, took a 13-0 lead in the third game to win 25-16.

The fourth set was especially close as the Lady Flames saved three set points to tie the game at 24-24. Llano set sophomore outside hitter Renner Lilie on the final two points, and she delivered. And though the Lady Flames trimmed the deficit to 4-5 in the final set, that was a close as they would get.

Despite the outcome, Silvers saw more positives than negatives, noting eight players have playoff experience.

“On one hand it’s beautiful to have returning girls and have that many,” she said. “And it also means that the other ones are knowing that they’re only a couple spots to fight for. As a coach, I was wrestling with that because I’m on the momma side, too. So you have those feelings and I had to be OK that it’s not all about feelings.”

Other members include Ava Beltran, Ella Chavira, Avalynn Eppler, Elizabeth Neely and Reese Ramsey.

Though the varsity is set, the coach pointed out teams never know how the season will play out, pointing out that Neely began on the junior varsity only to move up when middle blockers Miley Fessler and Natalie Weems were injured and couldn’t play during the 2025 season. The two have since graduated.

“We need great players on JV as well right now,” she said. “They’re the next generation of varsity. I want you to play and practice so that you’re the next group to come up.”