Fayetteville One Win From State Title
The Lady Lions of Fayetteville High School competed in a state semifinal match against Sulphur Bluff High School at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland and won handily in three sets by a score of 25-13, 25-16, 25-10. “That’s the best we’ve started in a while,” said Fayetteville head volleyball coach Clint Jaeger.
“To see our fans drive four and a half hours up here, I think it speaks volumes for where our volleyball program has come. I think we put Fayetteville volleyball on the map.”
Fayetteville (45-2) was set to play for the 1A state title at 3 p.m. Thursday against Blum (36-12), which was a winner over Veribest in the other state semifinal Wednesday.
Sulphur Bluff ends its season with a 26-10 record.
Lady Lions setter Mattie Konvicka did a stellar job, once again, setting the ball for hitters like junior Brooklyn Jaeger to close in on kills. “This is something I really worked on,” Konvicka said on her setting. “It’s crazy that we’re here, but I’m so excited.”
Both teams traded points in the first set before Fayetteville went on a 7-0 run to take a 12-3 lead. Jaeger was on fire with getting kills and also added a few aces. Konvicka and sophomore hitter Kayme Schley pitched in as well with kills and aces to win the first set at 25-13
The second set was a little closer as the Lady Lions struggled to find their rhythm, but a slow start didn’t hold them back from stretching their lead later in the set at 19-11. Tip balls from Jaeger and Schley helped win their team the second set at 25-16.
Fayetteville decided they were going to finish what they started and didn’t waste any time getting things going in the third set with a 12-3 lead. Two kills in a row from sophomore middle hitter Peyton Jurecka gave the Lady lions some more cushion and an ace from Konvicka along with a game-winning kill from Jaeger put the icing on the cake en route to a 25-10 set win and overall victory for a spot in the state championship game.
Brooklyn Jaeger had 18 kills in Wednesday’s match with eight aces and 11 digs.
Schley had eight kills, three aces and four digs. Konvicka had 22 assists and five aces. Peyton Jurecka had three kills. Marissa Rohde had four digs.