Faith Academy volleyball looking for more consistency

CAPTION: Senior Jillian Martin is one of the leaders of the Faith Academy volleyball program. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls volleyball team travels to Waco to face Live Oak Classical at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the regular season’s final match before embarking on the playoffs.

The Lady Flames will finish third in District 3-3A of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, no matter the outcome of the Live Oak contest. But Faith head coach Erin Sawyer said there are plenty of reasons why this match is important.

First, she wants to see her team perform at a high level before advancing to the playoffs, a first for the program in at least four years. She pointed to the five-set loss to Temple Central Texas Christian, which is the district runner-up, to illustrate her point. Faith lost 25-20, 26-28, 25-22m 22-25, 14-16.

“I’m trying to get the girls to play more consistent,” the coach said. “They played such a good match against CTC. I’m trying to work on the girls being more consistent. What can we do to obtain that goal?”

She noted this year’s team has taken some necessary steps toward that.

“There’s a level of play emotionally and physically that’s new,” Sawyer said. “(In past seasons), if the girls would get bummed, they would let it bother them. It affected how they played. This year they’ve been able to shake it off and go ‘next.’ They look to the next point and look to the next serve or the next serve-receive. I think they’re looking toward what’s next. They’re breaking free and pushing forward. This is new territory for us. We’re having to figure it out. The girls realize what they can do. That is a lot different than in previous years.”

The Lady Flames beat San Marcos Academy 25-12, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15 Oct. 17.

A sign of a mature team is the ability to keep playing at the same high level, no matter who’s on the other side of the net.

“I think they’ve gotten better at it,” the coach said. “When we’ve played (teams below us in the standings), we start playing down and we’re making so many mistakes. In the past, they would let it consume them. Now they fight and start their dominance.”

The playoffs begin Nov. 5 against Huntsville Alpha Omega. With two weeks between the end of the regular season and the postseason, Sawyer said she is busy trying to schedule a warm-up match.

“To me it’s about creating that consistency,” she said. “It will be good competition for us.”

CAPTION: Junior libero Bosley Kuker helps steady the back row to jump start the serve-receive. Photos by Stennis Shotts