“I think we are scoring from a lot of different angles on the court and our setters are doing a good job of spreading the ball around, and that speaks volumes to our defense to allow our setters to spread the ball around,” Ladycats head coach Claire Gay said. “It was a good job by our defense for keeping the ball pretty much in system, and I thought we did a good job with serve-receive as well. Our setters are recognizing where the strengths are on the other side of the net and trying to set against that. It’s nice to have options and I think any team at this point needs to have that to be successful.”
Aledo has a swiss-army-knife-like offense and that was on full display against Paschal. The Ladycats surged ahead 14-6 in the opening set after dynamic junior Kaelee Berkley tooled the block on the outside for a kill. A couple points later, senior setter Sophie Frank served an ace for a double-digit lead at 16-6, forcing a Paschal timeout in the process.
Star senior Alyssa Todd blasted a kill down the line that put Aledo in the red zone with a 20-9 advantage. Senior middle Lily Lufkin put away kills on two of Aledo’s final three points while the 24th point of the match came off the arm of sophomore outside hitter Brynlee Schneider, who pulverized a free ball to the delight of the team and crowd alike.
Schneider, who hammered home four kills against Paschal and had five kills and two blocks against Colleyville Heritage, has helped make an already potent Aledo offense even more lethal with her elevated level of play.
“I’ve grown more confident as the season’s gone on, but it was definitely a little bit intimidating at first, but it got better as I went on,” Schneider said. “The girls were really great in supporting me as I’ve been here. My teammates definitely helped grow my confidence, too, it wasn’t just me. It’s just been fun growing with all my teammates around me.”
Aledo raced ahead 12-3 in the second set following a flurry of kills from Karsyn Trott, Berkley and Lilly Morris, but Paschal closed to within 17-13 on a 10-4 run. Even though Paschal crept as close as three points through the variety they threw at Aledo, Trott and Morris put away kills to create separation, and Todd placed a beautiful tip to the back-left corner for a 22-17 lead. Kills by Lufkin and Berkley eventually ended the victorious second set for Aledo.
The Ladycats cruised through Set Three with minimal issues. Payton Patrick patrolled the net well for Aledo with several big blocks and kills while Schneider tattooed another big free ball for a 12-7 lead. A block and a kill on consecutive plays by Trott pushed Aledo’s advantage to double digits at 19-8, and Berkley closed out the match with three big kills on consecutive points.
“They (Paschal) threw a lot of things at us, they were very smart as far as what they were doing offensively with the ball and we had more unforced errors on our side of the net,” Gay said. “It kept us a little bit out of sync, and sometimes when you’re in that kind of a setting, you’re more prone to have errors that come along with that. We’ve got to get back into the gym and work on consistency, especially on our serving. We had one off night but have had exceptional serving all year long, and we were still aggressive and I thought we did a great job in terms of our ball placement and keeping them out of system as much as possible.”
Todd led the way with another stellar performance. The ACU-commit nabbed team-highs of 16 kills and 20 digs to go with one block. Berkley connected on 12 kills and collected 13 digs while Lufkin added six kills and three blocks. Trott finished with five kills and a block while Patrick had three kills and three blocks. Junior libero Karsyn Evans shined with 20 digs and three aces while Schneider added two digs with her four kills.
Senior setter Kailey Hamilton registered 16 assists and five digs while twin sister Kenley Hamilton added three digs. Frank finished with a team-high 21 assists, 10 digs and one ace.
The environment was intense, the competition was fierce, and the energy was palpable inside of the Arlington ISD Athletics Center for Thursday night’s bi-district matchup between familiar foes, the No. 1 Aledo Ladycats and the No. 19 Colleyville Heritage Lady Panthers. The two titans of local volleyball have matched up in the postseason in each of the last three years, including this matchup.
In what felt like a regional-round contest, the Ladycats clawed back from an early deficit and showed resilience in tight moments throughout the contest to emerge with a victory in straight sets. Aledo slipped past Colleyville Heritage by a final score of 25-23, 25-22, and 25-21.
“I’m glad that we scheduled the match that we did on Monday, and we took that loss because I think, going into tonight, we needed that match because I knew that Colleyville was going to give us everything that they had,” Ladycats head coach Claire Gay said. “They have a lot of really, really good pieces and I felt like they are not an easy team to beat.”
The Ladycats nosed ahead 13-10 in the opening set following a beautiful kill down the line and a block by middle Payton Patrick, along with a Colleyville Heritage hitting error. Out of the timeout, the Lady Panthers showed their mettle with a 6-0 run to take a 16-13 advantage. Aledo stayed within a few points through the late stages of the set, thanks to playmaking from Patrick and star senior Alyssa Todd, but Gay was forced to call a rare timeout with her team trailing 21-18.
Out of the timeout, Aledo entered the court with more vigor and purpose than before. The Ladycats stormed ahead to tie the score at 21-all, courtesy of a back row kill by Todd and back-to-back aces by Kenley Hamilton. Knotted at 22 points apiece, Todd rose high from the left pen and placed a kill beautifully in the back left corner for a 23-22 lead. Star junior Kaelee Berkley followed with a kill for a 24-22 advantage. A couple points later, senior middle Karsyn Trott put away a free ball to end the razor-thin first set.
The Ladycats got off to a quick start in the second set, and Berkley had a highlight-reel play with a running, one-handed dig that led to a kill for Todd and an opening 4-1 lead. Aledo was able to maintain a three to four point lead throughout the remainder of the set, largely thanks to the emergence from Brynlee Schneider, who opened up Aledo’s offense with her impressive attacks from the right side. Later in the set, Berkley showcased her defensive prowess once more as she dug up a powerful attack from Colleyville Heritage’s senior Onita Davis, a Tarleton State-commit, which eventually led to a hitting error and a point for Aledo that pushed the lead to 21-17. Then, Todd recorded kills on three of the final four points to give Aledo a 2-0 lead.
The third set saw plenty of front-line production while Kailey and Kenley Hamilton, Karsyn Evans, Sophie Frank, Todd, and Berkley continued to anchor the back row. Aledo held a narrow lead throughout the set and slipped away late, with Patrick’s kill ending the match.
“We did a really good job in serving at them and kept them a little bit out of system, but their right sides went to work on us, and obviously that’s a big issue we’ve got to address as a team,” Gay said. “Going back to Monday, I’m really thankful that we had that match so we could kind of be prepared for this one. They’re a great team, they’re well coached and this is a well-versed matchup. I hate that this match was in the first round, but that’s the way that it falls with there being two divisions.”
Todd and Berkley led the charge for the bi-district champion Ladycats. Todd collected 15 kills, 20 digs (both team-highs), three blocks, and one ace while Berkley registered 14 kills and nine digs. Patrick was impactful with six kills and four blocks while Schneider produced five kills and two blocks. Trott was impressive with three kills and a team-high six blocks while Lily Lufkin finished with two kills and three blocks. Evans added 19 digs and an ace while Frank ended the night with 22 assists and six digs. Kailey Hamilton totaled 15 assists, seven digs, and one ace while Kenley Hamilton poured in seven digs and two aces.
The Ladycats (39-3, 12-0) advance to the regional semifinals, where they will face off against Amarillo High School at 5 p.m. Friday at Vernon High School.
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