Marble Falls volleyball continues to play tough in district

CAPTION: Marble Falls seniors Sadie Harris (left) and Alexis Dalton watch as a ball against Burnet sails out of bounds to give the Lady Mustangs the point. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Marble Falls High School volleyball team lost to Lago Vista 17-25, 13-25, 19-25 Oct. 2.

The win put the Lady Vikings (2-2) fourth in the District 24-4A standings and the Lady Mustangs (0-4) are tied for fifth with Lampasas (0-4).

Marble Falls and Lago Vista began the contest matching each other point for point and didn’t let the other get a big lead.

Marble Falls senior setter Ava Carter made it a point to get senior outside hitter Sadie Harris going early. She set the ball to her at different spots on the floor. And Harris used a variety of ways to end rallies – going cross court, up the middle and down the line.

“That first set Sadie was on fire,” head coach Kait Goertz said.

Once they were tied at 10-10 in the opening set, Lago Vista took the next four points then built an 18-15 lead.

But that’s as close as the set got. The Lady Vikings scored seven of the next nine points for the win.

The second set started much like the first. Marble Falls took a 4-2 lead with Lago Vista tying the match at 5-5. The Lady Vikings won six of the next eight points for an 11-7 advantage en route to taking a 2-0 lead in the match.

Lago Vista looked to end the match in three sets and raced to a 6-2 advantage. But Marble Falls wasn’t easily defeated, narrowing the deficit to 7-9. Still, the Lady Vikings kept at least a four-point lead throughout the set.

Goertz commended her players for how they started the match.

“I felt like we fought in the first set,” she said. “I felt like we let Lago hang around because of our mental errors. They won that first set, but we weren’t beaten by them. We beat ourselves.”

The coach noted that Carter and Harris kept blockers guessing from where the kills were coming. And when Lago Vista adjusted its defense, Carter adjusted, too.

“Lago Vista did a great job of recognizing Sadie, ” Goertz said. “They limited her impact in the second and third sets. Credit (assistant coach Emily) Blunt. She works with our setters. She told Ava, ‘Let’s move it somewhere else and then bring it back.'”

Marble Falls entered this match after losing to Burnet 15-25, 19-25, 24-26 Sept. 29.

“That was probably our most complete match from start to finish,” Goertz said. “The scores only tell part of the story. Every single point was magnetized. The intensity and intentionality from the girls was incredible.”

Each squad fought for points with neither defense willing to easily give up. Some points had long rallies with numerous touches before they were decided.

“Everyone was locked in, everyone knew their jobs and was ready to go perform,” Goertz said.

Harris had 13 kills and Carter had 24 assists. As a team, the Lady Mustangs had 54 digs and a serving percentage of 94 percent.

“(Harris) had an incredible hitting night, and Ava did an incredible job of distributing the ball,” the coach said. “Even though we lost it, it was a moral victory.”

Marble Falls travels to Lampasas in a varsity contest that now starts at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, to complete the first round of district play. The subvarsities follow.

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CAPTION: Marble Falls High School students cheer on the Lady Mustangs during the match against Burnet in The Doghouse. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography