Title Town
Fayetteville Volleyball Team’s State Title Caps Amazing 2021 for Community
Fayetteville is officially Title Town.
No community in this part of Texas has experienced as much team success in the last few months – from a 1A state baseball title in June, a host of state track meet qualifiers, a boys team cross country state berth just a few weeks ago, and now the icing on the cake of a stellar 2021: Last Thursday’s 1A state volleyball title by the Fayetteville Lady Lions.
Anyone who was paying attention this fall might have seen this coming as the Lady Lions started the season with a 26 consecutive victories.
But also anyone with a long-term memory of the last few seasons might have had cause to wonder if it could actually happen.
For three consecutive seasons, the Fayetteville volleyball team had strong seasons and long playoff marches only to see their championship hopes end in the regional finals – one win away from the state tournament each time.
A trend was developing:
2018 –The Fayetteville volleyball team made its first run to the regional tournament since the mid-1980s, but fell to D’Hanis in four sets in the regional finals. “This has been really, really special for the community and kind of puts Fayetteville volleyball back on the map,” head coach Clint Jaeger said after that season-ending loss three years ago.
2019 – The Lady Lions returned to the regional finals only to fall to Round Top-Carmine in three sets (despite having beaten the Cubettes twice during the regular season). “We’re headed in the right direction, we just have to get over that hump though,” Clint Jaeger said after that loss.
2020 – After losing the first two sets in the regional finals to D’Hanis the Lady Lions stormed back to win the next two sets and were up 13-10 in the fifth set before D’Hanis scored the final five points to end Fayetteville’s season. “We’re right on the cusp of it,” Clint Jaeger said after that loss. “It’s heartbreaking knowing we were two points away,” Brooklyn Jaeger said after getting 44 kills in that match.
But three seasons of oh-so-close frustration were erased by the Lady Lions this season. And maybe that’s why this championship felt so special to the Fayetteville girls and what seemed like the entire town of Fayetteville, so many folks who made the long trip to Garland to cheer them on. Many of those state title winning Fayetteville baseball players were right in the front row leading the cheers.
“We’ve wanted this so bad and dreamt of it for so long, we don’t know how to comprehend it all,” Kayme Schley said.
“Every year since my freshman year we’ve been one win away from state every year,” Alley Keen said. “We’ve gotten better. This year not only did we get to come here, but we won it. We’re state champions. Words cannot describe how I feel right now. It’s unbelievable.”
Here’s a look back at that magical run to the title for the Lady Lions:
After rolling through the regular season with a 40-2 record and a undefeated district title, the Lady Lions embarked on the postseason:
Rolling past Runge
After a first round bye, Fayetteville got its postseason started in the second round against Runge with a 25-10, 25-11, 25-6 victory. The Lady Lions got 19 kills from Brooklyn Jaeger, eight from Kayme Schley and six from Peyton Jurecka.
Alley Keen had 12 aces and Mattie Konvicka had six.
Marissa Rohde led in digs with six and Konvicka had 31 assists.
Sweeping Past Richards in Area
Fayetteville bashed Richards in three sets in Brenham to win their regional quarterfinal match 25-10, 25-16, 25-16.
“They are young and talented. This was the third time we had played them, so they knew us, and we had to fight for our lives in that second set,” said Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger.
Those three victories against Richards are part of an overall record that now stands at 42-2 for the Lady Lions.
“It’s crazy. We looked at the schedule before the season, and you don’t ever want to get too far ahead of yourself, but we thought we’d have a lot of wins,” said Clint Jaeger. “But I didn’t think it would be this many.”
Fayetteville got 10 aces from Kayme Schley, 13 digs from Marissa Rohde and 10 from Alley Keen, 33 assists from Mattie Konvicka and three kills from Peyton Jurecka.
“I’m so proud of this team and how far we’ve come,” said Jurecka.
The Lady Lions are led by Clint’s daughter, a junior, Brooklyn Jaeger. Tuesday against Richards she had an amazing 34 kills.
After many of those kills some Fayetteville fans yelled the rather clever, “You’ve been Jaeger-bombed!”
“This season’s it’s been fun, Brooklyn said. “My freshmen and sophomore years we started off slow and progressively got better, but this year we started strong from the get go. We are doing all the things we needed to do to get better.”
But it’s the state tournament berth that still eludes them.
They get a chance at that this weekend.
“Last year we were a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and I felt like we were inexperienced,” Brooklyn Jaeger said. “We experienced that heartbreak in the regional finals. Now we have that mental toughness and we have a great family bond. We feel like sisters.”
Now these sisters are two wins away from the state tournament.
Regional Tourney Triumph
The Fayetteville and Round Top-Carmine volleyball teams faced off in a Fayette County regional final match 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.”
Brooklyn Jaeger had 38 kills and Konvicka had 34 assists. Schley had six kills. Marissa Rohde had 13 digs and Alley Keen had 11.
“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.”
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.
State Semis
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.”
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
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.
The Title Match
It was a championship team led by a record-breaking star.
Showing no signs of being a state tournament newcomer (though they were) the Fayetteville Lady Lions made themselves right at home in Garland last week. They swept both their state semifinal and championships matches to earn the school’s first-ever state volleyball title.
“They all stepped up and her their best game of the year,” said Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger after his team knocked off No. 1-ranked Blum 25-15, 25- 23, 25-22.
In that title match Fayetteville’s Brooklyn Jaeger did something no other high school volleyball player had ever done in the history of the Texas state tournament. Her 40 kills in the title match broke the state record for most kills in a championship.
“She’s a heck of a player,” said Blum head coach Lauren McPherson, of Jaeger, a junior who has verbally committed to play for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after high school.
Blum (36-13) was the reigning state runner-up and had come into the state tournament ranked No. 1 in the state and had not lost even a set to a Class 1A team this season.
But they hadn’t played Fayetteville yet.
The Lady Lions actually fell behind in all three of their sets in the title match, only to storm back each time.
“We knew beforehand that Blum was really good, a solid all-around team and all facets of our game were going to have to be clicking,” said Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger. “The girls stepped up, they kept their composure.”
Senior Mattie Konvicka had 40 assists. Sophomore Kayme Schley had five kills and 12 digs. Senior Alley Keen had eight digs and had a long serving run in the first set that fueled a comeback. Marissa Rohde had seven digs and Rylie Dyer had five.
“I’m a little bit shocked,” McPherson said. “No one comes into the state championship thinking that’s what it’s going to go like. They really had some players step up and do things we hadn’t seen them do all year. Props to Fayetteville.”
Thursday’s win caps a remarkable season for the Lady Lions, who compiled a sparking 46-2 record, capped off by a dominating state title win.
“Every single set we were down, and I was scared we were going to let our nerves and fears get in the way but I’m proud of us for stepping up and fighting hard,” Brooklyn said.