Fayetteville Earns First-Ever Trip to State Volleyball
The Fayetteville and Round Top-Carmine volleyball teams faced off in a Fayette County regional final match Saturday where the Lady Lions grasped a three set victory and a trip to Garland for the state tournament with a final score of 25- 21, 25-20, 25-21. The Cubettes of Round Top-Carmine jetted out to an early lead in the first set, but Fayetteville stayed true to their game and found ways to edge out wins in each of the three sets, especially in the third set as Fayetteville climbed back from a nine-point deficit.
“We’ve been pretty much rolling since August,” said Fayetteville head volleyball coach Clint Jaeger. “We came out hot and just kept going. We played really well today. We came out guns blazing. Third set, they got on us. I think we felt like we had that two set to zero cushion. We turned it on and made a heck of a comeback in the third set. That was credit to the girls.”
Fayetteville junior outside hitter and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi volleyball commit Brooklyn Jaeger led the team in kills for the contest as she’s been doing throughout the majority of the season.
“It’s been one of my favorite teams I’ve ever played on,” Brooklyn Jaeger said. “We’ve worked our butts off. Even before August, I know the girls were setting up nets at their house, working on skills. We’ve been just practicing from the getgo. You can see today, it meant everything to us. Just pure emotion the past two days. A lot has happened, but we didn’t let that get in our way. I’m really proud of this team and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
The Cubettes’ season ends with the loss after playoff victories in the area, regional quarterfinal and regional semifinals rounds.
“I just told the girls, win or lose, there’s not another 15 that I’d rather stand behind,” said RT-C head coach Catie Carney. “They fought hard all season. They gave them more than they bargained for today and I’m so super proud of the young group that we have ... I’m super proud of where they started from. The first two times we played Fayetteville to now, I think it shows in the years to come we’re going to be something to watch. I’m super excited for this group.”
Just to get to Saturday’s final these two teams had to survive Friday’s regional semis.
Fayetteville downed San Isidro Friday in four sets thanks to 43 kills from Jaeger and seven from Kayme Schley. Mattie Konvicka had 45 assists.
RT-C, meanwhile, beat Utopia in four sets Friday as Kaysie Ward had 10 kills, Mallory Krause had 23 digs and 31 assists, and Ilse Salinas had eight kills.
That set the stage for Saturday.
Brooklyn Jaeger started that game with a kill and a 1-0 lead before Round Top snatched the momentum with a 4-1 lead on a kill, two tip balls, and a ball out of bounds. Both teams battled as the score was within a point or two for the entire set until Fayetteville started to separate themselves toward the end. A kill for Round Top out of a timeout made the scoreboard read 19-17 in favor of the Lady Lions. Fayetteville then stretched their lead to 23-18 on kills from Jaeger and sophomore outside hitter Rylie Dyer along with a tip ball from sophomore hitter Kayme Schley. A kill, tip ball, and ace from Round Top put it at 24-21 until a ball out of bounds from Round Top clinched the set for Fayetteville at 25-21.
Fayetteville started the second set with a 7-1 lead due to a kill spree from Jaeger and her team was able to keep this kind of lead for almost the remainder of the set as Round Top fought back and made the score 23- 20 with a kill and a ball out of bounds from the Lady Lions. Fayetteville scored their 24th point on a botched volley and then a kill for the last point of the set and a 25-20 win.
The third set was much more even to begin with and Round Top showed that they belong by taking a 17-8 lead midway through the set.. The Lady Lions didn’t shy away and made it a one point set towards the finish. Timely kills from Schley and Jaeger capped off the set win and punched their ticket to the state tournament at 25-21 for a threeset sweep.
Jaeger had 38 kills and Konvicka had 34 assists. Schley had six kills. Marissa Rohde had 13 digs and Alley Keen had 11.