The Ladycats got plentiful contributions from their veterans but also saw the younger players carry the load for long stretches that helped fuel Aledo to the finish line against the visiting Lady Panthers.
“I feel like these younger classmen, eight of which were on varsity last year, have folded into the mix pretty easily,” Ladycats head coach Claire Gay said. “They’re competitors and you can tell they’ve also played in key moments in high-level volleyball situations – it transfers. I’m really proud of them for not having any fear, and they just go up and swing. They aren’t afraid of the moment and they aren’t afraid of being coached hard. It all makes them better volleyball players, which makes us a better overall team.”
The younger players’ continuity with this year’s upperclassmen has been evident, but their attitudes and collective mindset have been just as strong.
“I think they’ve really stepped in and filled big parts on the court,” star senior Alyssa Todd said. “They’ve just listened to us always and don’t gripe about anything.”
Aledo held a 9-6 lead in the opening set that grew to 16-6 following a 7-0 run. Junior outside hitter Kaelee Berkley had her fingerprints all over the court during that run with multiple kills and a service ace. Middle blockers Lilly Morris and Lily Lufkin also contributed up front with powerful blocks and kills to nurse the double-digit lead, until a back-line shot by Berkley ended the first set.
“We can score pretty well from the pens. They do a good job, take good shots and the setters can put a ball in the air and the hitters can adjust in out-of-system scenarios,” Gay said. “At the end of the day, something we’ve got to do better is include our middles. We have to establish our middles much earlier than we are now, and then we have to trust that they can get the job done as well. I think it’s a relationship-building thing, and I think the time will come.”
Beautiful hustle was on display from senior setter Sophie Frank, Berkley, and Lufkin when their diving efforts and quick reactions gave Aledo a 6-3 lead and energized the home crowd. That momentum helped Aledo to continue to create separation as a big block and kill by Payton Patrick on back-to-back possessions extended the advantage back to 14-10. Patrick then connected with the ball beautifully on a seamless slide play before a Paschal hitting error that increased the advantage to 16-11. Later, a Morris block put the score at 19-13 and forced a Paschal timeout in the process. After that, Berkley and Kennedy Christie each had a kill while the latter, a sophomore, added a block to make it 22-13. A few points later, a kill from Avery Pipkins gave Aledo a 2-0 lead in sets.
Aledo and Paschal were more competitive on the scoreboard in the third and final set. The Lady Panthers rallied to tie the action at 15-all before Aledo began to pull away once more. This time, Karsyn Trott put away two kills out of the middle on well-executed quick sets while Morris continued to be impactful at the net with multiple blocks. Berkley caught fire in the closing moments, putting away three of Aledo’s last four kills while Todd registered the decisive kill to clinch the match.
“We don’t want to be perfect right now and you want things to be worked on, so we were exposed on a lot of things with the teams we’ve played,” Gay said. “We have our list of things we’ve got to get better at, and we just want to take things one practice at a time to kind of chip away at that list. Hopefully by November, we’ve got those all taken care of.”
Aledo recorded a program sweep as the JV and freshman teams followed suit in the win column against Paschal. Each team did not drop a set in their respective victories as the JV unit won 25-23 and 25-14 while the Freshman A (25-11, 25-13) and Freshman B (25-17, 25-15) also recorded straight-set wins.
For the varsity, Todd led the way with 11 kills, seven digs and one ace while Berkley had 10 kills, six digs and one ace. Ladycats libero Karsyn Evans, who remained stalwart on the backline, produced a team-high 17 digs to go with one ace and seven assists while senior setter Kailey Hamilton added 11 assists and 13 digs. Frank compiled 16 assists and nine digs while Kenley Hamilton tallied five digs.
Morris totaled six kills and two blocks while Patrick had four kills and four blocks. Lufkin was dominant up front with a team-high five blocks while Trott finished with three kills and one block.
Aledo (23-2) has faced stiff competition throughout its start to the season and has helped them measure their skills at every step to help build confidence and chemistry.
“Those games and tournaments just let us know that those tournaments help us know how high of a skill level that we can play at,” Todd said. “In those games, we just have to keep that level, not stoop down and just take care of business.”
Aledo’s pre-district slate will conclude with one more mega matchup in the form of a trip to Highland Park, a team Aledo could potentially face deep in the postseason, and a familiar foe at that.
“We’ve had a really tough preseason with one more match this Friday, which I hope will be a very fantastic win or lose,” Gay said of the team’s upcoming match at Highland Park. “They’re very talented and we’re going to their house and we beat them at our place last year, so they’re going to be a bit eager. I imagine that they’re going to play us extremely hard at their house, but I think that having those matches early in our season from the tournaments we played in along with the teams we faced in our preseason will hopefully transfer what we’ve learned in those moments and push us through district play.”
The Ladycats will travel away from home to take on the No. 4 Highland Park Lady Scots in a highly-anticipated top-5 matchup of Class 5A contenders. The game will take place at 6 p.m. Friday at Highland Park High School.
ARLINGTON – The No. 6 Aledo Ladycats volleyball team kept rolling through its impressive start to the season with more data for the win column. Recently, the Ladycats took their 18-2 record into Arlington for the annual Arlington Classic Volleyball Tournament, which featured the Ladycats, Alabama state power McGill-Toolen, Keller Central, Mansfield Legacy and Mineral Wells. Overall, the Ladycats finished their slate of best-of-five matches unscathed to earn the tournament crown. Aledo also saw star senior Alysa Todd earn MVP honors of the tournament while junior outside hitter Kaelee Berkley was named to the All-Tournament team.
Aledo faced its stiffest competition in its first match against McGill-Toolen, a top-10 school in its respective Alabama classification. The Ladycats showed grit and resolve as they pulled off a reverse sweep, winning the match by a final score of 14-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-17 and 15-12. Later, the Ladycats cruised past Keller Central in a sweep (25-13, 25-12 and 25-18).
On Day Two, Aledo recorded victories over Mansfield Legacy (25-19, 25-19 and 25-17), a familiar foe from the Granbury Tournament, and Mineral Wells (25-5, 25-10 and 25-17).
Over the course of four matches, Todd starred with 46 kills, 54 digs, six aces and four blocks. Berkley produced 28 kills, 57 digs and one block while Payton Patrick had 33 kills and 5 blocks. Senior setters Sophie Frank and Kailey Hamilton were also strong for Aledo. Frank recorded 73 assists, 43 digs and an ace while Hamilton had 41 assists, 34 digs and five aces.
Karsyn Evans anchored the back row with 74 digs and 10 aces while Karsyn Trott was impactful at the net with five kills and eight blocks. Kenley Hamilton made a significant contribution with double-digit assists and digs to go with six aces. Lilly Lufkin, Lilly Morris and Kennedie Christie were strong at the net, combining for 20 blocks.
The Ladycats (22-2) will return to their home court at 5 p.m. Tuesday at home against Paschal, where the team will be honoring various faculty and staff members for Teacher Appreciation Night.
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