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Volleyball: Lady Mustangs hope to corral district title
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
Creekview's volleyball team entered 10-4A with aspirations of winning a district title and making a deep playoff run.
In Friday's opener, the Lady Mustangs made a statement as they cruised past Terrell for an easy win (25-2, 25-5, 25-6). The squad was coming off a third-place finish at the Frisco ISD Tournament Aug. 30-Sept. 1 before closing its non-district slate with a loss last Tuesday at Plano Senior (25-19, 25-12, 25-22).
"I was really pleased with the way we played in the Frisco Tournament," said Angel Mauterer, Creekview head coach. "We played some very strong teams and played well against them. We also had a couple of matches where we dropped the first game and I was impressed with our ability to stay focused and fight back to win those matches."
"We had some matches where we had to do that and had girls take on the challenge," Mauterer said. "I was impressed with how we were able to step up and play when we were out of our comfort zone."
One of the key injuries came at outside hitter, where Rachel Kirchner has been lost for the season. Last year, Kirchner was a first team all-district performer.
However, the Lady Mustangs bring back five other varsity players from a club that reached the third round of the playoffs last season, including Co-Setter of the Year Alyssa Desjardins, first team middle blocker Julie Chrisman, second team outside hitter Morgan Reiner and middle blocker Ashley Bennett (honorable mention). Libero Stephanie Dyess also returns with varsity experience.
Rounding out the roster are Haley Moffett and Sherrie Ruston at right side, Jennifer Wang and Megan Grimes as defensive specialists, Maddi Brazell at outside hitter and Jennifer Ene at middle blocker.
"We've been doing a fantastic job defensively so far," Mauterer said. "And we've done a good job of adjusting because we've had girls in different spots with Rachel out."
Moffett, in particular, has excelled since taking on an expanded role at outside hitter when not playing right side.
"She's up from junior varsity last year and has been tremendous so far," Mauterer said. "Our front line in general has been playing very well. Ashley gives us more experience up there and Jennifer is in her first year of varsity after she tore her ACL last season; she is catching up quickly."
While Creekview has been playing well despite adjusting up front, the strength of the Lady Mustangs may well lie in the back row.
"We have great depth at libero and defensive specialist," Mauterer said. "It's a dog fight in practice for those spots and all of our options have been very deserving of playing time. Our defense has really improved and has made it challenging for our opponents to find creative ways to score."
And with Desjardins leading the way at setter, Creekview's passing game has also been a positive.
"Alyssa has been starting since her freshman year," Mauterer said. "She is a very smart player and has great chemistry with the rest of the girls. She's knows who wants the ball and where to get the ball to them. And if there is a mistake, she knows who she can immediately go back to and who we need to get back in rhythm first. She makes us very versatile in what we can do."
Though the Lady Mustangs have been playing well, Mauterer still believes there is plenty of improvement to make.
"Our serve-receive has been improving daily and that showed in the Frisco Tournament," she said. "But you can always get better there. And we also have to do a better job of serving ourselves and being more consistent. And we're working on being more offensive-minded and improving our blocking."
If Creekview continues to take those strides, Mauterer is hopeful the Lady Mustangs will be playing in Garland in November.
"Our goal is always to win district and then make a deep playoff run," she said. "We want to be playing for state in Garland at the end of the year, but we know it is going to be tough. Highland Park is looking very good in our district and we know we are going to get a fight from some other teams. But that will just get us more prepared for the playoffs."
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