The Aubrey Lady Chaparrals ran away with the win in their season opener, defeating the Gunter Lady Tigers three sets to none at home Tuesday night.
The two teams were evenly matched in the opening set, with the Lady Tigers taking a slim lead until the Lady Chaps found their footing and took control of the contest, with Aubrey outscoring Gunter 75-40 on the night.
“We did a really good job in our first game of the season and a home game,” said Aubrey head volleyball coach Whitney Marriott. “I expected some nerves, and I think that’s what we saw in the first set, us being too amped up, but once we settled in and started playing how we’re capable of playing, we started having a lot of success.”
The two squads traded points in the early portion of the first set, with the Lady Tigers building a 14-9 lead, but the Lady Chaps battled back to win the set, 25-19, with a 16-5 scoring run.
“We started flying around on defense and started serving more aggressively, and our outsides, Chloe [Miller] and Libby [Collins], got going toward the end of set two and set three, and that opened things up more for our middles,” Marriott said. “We got down, but we did a good job of making the adjustments.”
Aubrey used the momentum from the first set comeback to smother Gunter in the second set, winning 25-8, and went on to win the third set 2519.
Junior setter Landry Hampton dished out 18 assists, and sophomore libero Emma Conley collected 14 digs while patrolling the Lady Chaps' back line.
Collins and junior middle blocker Paisley Hopper led Aubrey with 13 kills each, followed by Miller, who added 9 kills.
Marriott highlighted the performance from Hopper, who made her varsity debut in the match.
“[She] got going in the middle, and they had a tough time slowing her down tonight,” Marriott said.
Hopper said the preparation process and her teammates were a big influence in helping her adjust to the speed of varsity play.
“I had a big role to fill, but everyone helped me step up, and I have a lot of girls around me to help encourage me every day,' she said. “We all share our goals in practice, and that helps everyone stay accountable and build each other up and stay on task.”
Hopper added that the Lady Chaps practices helped them take the win over Gunter.
“We started off a little slow; we were a little nervous, but we went back to the basics that we learned in practice, and once we implemented that into our play, it helped us settle down, and we were perfectly fine,” she said.
Miller echoed her teammate’s sentiments and highlighted the role the team’s chemistry played in the win.
“We were super antsy in the beginning, but this group of girls is special,” she said. “We all love each other, and in sets two and three we were able to pick each other up just by [supporting] each other, and that helped us minimize our errors and flow through the last two sets.”
With the Lady Chaps’ first win of the season under their belts, Marriott said she has high hopes for the team’s performance this season.
“I have really high expectations for this group,” she said. “We are incredibly athletic, and we are versatile. We can do a lot of different things, and that’s going to be a strength for this team. … We also have a really great mix of veterans with some new kids, and they have really high expectations for themselves. They've already talked about what they expect for the district, and they're ready to go to work.”
Aubrey was scheduled to return to the hardwood to compete in the Tex-Fest Volleyball Tournament in Wimberley, starting Thursday and continuing Friday and Saturday before returning home to face Liberty Christian at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
