Wylie East senior Erika Hernandez hits the ball over the hands of a Naaman Forest defender during a recent home match at the Williams Center. Hernandez and the Lady Raiders cruised to a 3-0 win over Rowlett on Tuesday. Photo by Maddie Smith / C&S Media
By David Wolman
ROWLETT — Throughout the season, Wylie East head volleyball coach Nicole Calverley has implored her team to have more urgency to begin a match.
The urgency was there Tuesday night for the Lady Raiders, Calverley, said. Storming out to an 8-0 lead in the first set and a 6-0 advantage to begin the second set of Tuesday’s District 9-6A match against Rowlett, Wylie East rode that momentum to a 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-11) triumph over the Lady Eagles.
It was the fourth straight win for Wylie East (23-7, 6-1) — all in three sets — as the Lady Raiders remained one game behind district leader Wylie (24-6, 7-0) for first place in the 9-6A standings.
Freshman Rileigh Brown and Kylie Schultz helped to get Wylie East off to a sizzling start in set 1. The Lady Raiders got a kill from Brown for the first point of the match, and after a kill by senior Julia Hicks on the ensuing point, Schultz recorded three straight service aces to give Wylie East a quick 5-0 lead.
Rowlett made Wylie East work harder to earn their points in the second set. The Lady Eagles dug out balls that were hit hard by the Lady Raiders, but Wylie East worked through a few errors and proceeded to reclaim momentum. Three kills by senior Julia Hicks midway into the middle frame helped the Lady Raiders to finish the set on an 18-6 run and give her team a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
In the third set, Rowlett cut a 13-6 Wylie East led to 13-11 after the Lady Raiders hit the ball out of bounds. But back-to-back kills by senior Amy Hernandez over the next two points ignited a 12-1 Wylie East run to end the match.
Wylie East will return to action this Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Williams Center against North Garland.
For more on this story see the Oct. 3, 2024 digital edition of The Wylie News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
By David Wolman • [email protected]
0 Comments