“We came out a little slow this evening, I think that we had some pieces that were just different,” Ladycats head coach Claire Gay said. We hadn’t had a whole lot of opportunities to practice with those pieces, so it took a moment to get comfortable and to get familiar with each other on the court. Once we recognized their strengths and how that matched up with us, we did a good job of figuring that out quickly. We really attacked the ball at the service line and really put them on their toes and kept them just rattled enough to prevent them from getting comfortable in their offense.”
The Ladycats were mighty from the service line as they thumped 12 aces as a team – six by junior outside Kaelee Berkley, four by senior setter Sophie Frank and a pair of aces from star senior and ACU-commit Alyssa Todd.
The first set started out slower than Aledo would have liked, but the Ladycats were able to find their gear and pull away. Back-to-back kills by Todd gave Aledo an 11-10 advantage, then a kill by Berkley followed by a Todd ace stretched the lead to 15-12, forcing an Azle timeout in the process. A few points later, Berkley produced a kill and Frank followed with her own service ace to nurse Aledo’s three-point margin at 18-15. Then, Berkley and Todd both caught fire off nice feeds from Frank to help the Ladycats close out the tight opening set.
“I think that district competition is a different mindset,” Gay said. “We can come in, everything matters now, the wins and losses are really important and they can set you up for a different road in the future if we don’t handle the moments right now.”
While it was a major point of emphasis in the first set, the setters and their improving connection with their middle blockers in a quicker-paced offense has shown more improvement than before as Karsyn Trott and Lily Lufkin both were effective at the net and got plenty of touches throughout the match on offense and defense.
“We practiced it this entire two weeks because our connection hasn’t been great, but it’s improved infinitely – so much better than what it was,” Frank said of her and her setters’ connection with their middle blockers. “For this game, we watched film and knew their weakness was in the middle, so we came out and we decided we were doing it. We’re running it, we’re executing it in this game and it made a monumental difference.”
Aledo also got plenty of help from a pair of key reserves in Avery Pipkins and Evie Rivard, who filled in for injured front line players Lily Morris and Payton Patrick. Both players produced key kills in critical moments and rallies throughout the match to the delight of the home fans and their teammates.
“We all practice and get lots of reps in practice to set your team up for a situation like this – you never want to see your players get injured but you have to be prepared for it,” Gay said. “I thought Evie and Avery (Pipkins) stepped up big tonight. Avery has gotten some playing time on the back row, but for her to come back on the front row and have to be an asset there was just different for her, but I thought both of them did a great job. Evie hit some great balls out of system, which she has really improved on, and it’s hard to get a good hit with a confident swing on an out-of-system ball. I think they both had excellent moments to step in and make a difference for their team. It goes to show the depth of our team and that they trust each other to step in on any point on any given day.”
Senior setter Kailey Hamilton produced an out-of-system kill that increased Aledo’s lead to 16-5 in the second set that forced another Lady Hornets timeout call. The bleeding did not stop, though, as Berkley had a kill and two aces to make it a 22-7 advantage, and Todd eventually ended the second set with a kill. Aledo then used a collective effort of playmaking from starters and reserves alike to carry them through the decisive third set.
Following a grueling preseason, Aledo (24-2, 1-0) entered the inception of their district schedule with a business mindset – utilizing all of their experiences along the way to make them an even more dangerous team entering this matchup.
“It just improved our play and improved our energy so much with all of those skills,” Frank said. “Our preseason was really tough. We worked our butts off, got through it, we ran all the hard plays against all the hard teams and we did really well. We lost two matches this entire preseason. In this game, we slowed it down and we came together even with two missing pieces because the girls who got put in really stepped into their parts. We all worked together, had energy and we just executed what we were supposed to. We just played our game with a mindset of ‘go big or go home.’”
Todd led the way with team highs in kills (17) and digs (16) to go with her two aces while Berkley starred with 10 kills, 15 digs and a team-high six aces. Frank recorded 20 assists, 14 digs and four aces, Hamilton had 16 aces and her twin sister Kenley added nine digs. Trott and Lufkin had five kills apiece and combined for three blocks while Pipkins registered three kills and two blocks. Rivard had a pair of kills and a block while senior libero Karsyn Evans shored up the back line with 13 digs.
Up next, the second-ranked Ladycats will host another district foe with a fresh mindset and plan of attack.
“You have to look at it one match at a time,” Gay said. “Brewer’s got some pieces, so we’ve got to look at them on film and break apart their team a little bit to figure out what’s going to be successful on our side.”
The Ladycats will host Brewer at 5 p.m. Friday. Meanwhile, the Ladycats recorded a program sweep against Azle. The 9th Grade B team won 25-10, 25-9 while the Freshman A team recorded a 25-13, 25-6 victory. The JV squad triumphed in straight sets as well by a final score of 28-26 and 25-14.
The No. 5 Aledo Ladycats volleyball team took its talents to the beautiful, old-money area of Dallas on Sept. 5 for another high-level, pre-district volleyball match. Last year, the Ladycats defeated Highland Park in four sets at home. This year, Aledo needed all five sets to emerge with the victory and did so by a final score of 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 14-25, and 15-6.
“That was a big win against a really good team, and the best part was that it took every single player on our roster,” Ladycats head coach Claire Gay said. “We’ll likely see them again come playoff time, and tonight showed what we’re capable of when we play together.”
The Ladycats (24-2) got its nose out in front 2-0 in the top-5 matchup with Highland Park (22-8) until the home team rallied. Highland Park battled back to narrowly claim the third set and extend the match. From there, the Lady Scots cruised to a double-digit fourth set that set up a winner-take-all fifth and final set.
“We had some players step up in big moments to gain momentum, and we just fed off those moments,” Gay said.
Aledo used every bit of momentum and playmaking from its versatile and deep roster to build breathing room in the fifth set, and Highland Park could not recover. The Ladycat program saw both freshman squads earn wins while the JV team lost a heartbreaker in three sets (25-20, 19-25, and 32-34). The Freshman A team won 25-20 and 25-15 while the Freshman B team earned a three-set win (22-25, 25-23, and 25-14).
In the varsity match, star senior Alyssa Todd led the way with 25 kills and 16 digs while junior outside hitter Kaelee Berkley was brilliant as well with 22 kills, 21 digs, four service aces, and three blocks. Senior setters Sophie Frank and Kailey Hamilton shined defensively and distributed the ball well to their hitters. Frank finished with 23 assists and nine digs while Hamilton had 20 assists, 15 digs, and one ace. Ladycats libero Karsyn Evans recorded a team-high 31 digs and two aces while Kenley Hamilton registered eight digs.
Karsyn Trott was impactful with four kills, eight digs, and two blocks while Lily Morris compiled five kills and one block. Lily Lufkin and Payton Patrick combined for seven blocks while Kennedy Christie also had a block.
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