Wylie junior middle blocker Julia Hudgins (11) attempts to the ball around the block of a Highland Park defender on Tuesday, Aug. 12 from the Montgomery Center. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By Mark Saldana
The Wylie High School Lady Pirates came out swinging in their home opener Tuesday night, but Highland Park rallied to take a 3-1 victory in a competitive non-district volleyball match-up from the Montgomery Center.
The Lady Pirates (1-1 overall) took control early in the first set, fueled by junior Julia Hudgins’ relentless attack. Hudgins opened the scoring run with a kill to put Wylie up 3-2, then delivered another powerful strike to extend the lead to 11-6, prompting a Highland Park timeout. Wylie maintained its momentum, closing out the set 25-13 behind Hudgins’ final kill.
Head Coach Sherry Olivares praised her team’s early execution against a high-level volleyball squad.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen that level of competition, it was a good learning experience and my girls came out strong,” Olivares said. “We were aggressive, confident, and now we just have a few things to clean up for the season.”
Highland Park answered in the second set, capitalizing on Wylie miscues to build a 9-5 advantage. Junior Aubrey DeGrate’s kill cut the deficit to 23-17, but the Lady Scots held on for a 25-17 win to even the match.
The third set followed a similar pattern. DeGrate tied the score at 5-5 with another kill, but Highland Park pulled away late, taking the edge 25-16 to go up 2-1.
“We must execute more, get balanced in our offense and really just believe that our defense is going to make big plays,” Olivares said. “It’s a matter of keeping up with the pace of the game. We can’t get caught watching instead of being ready to hit, but we will learn from this challenge moving forward.”
Facing elimination in the fourth set, Wylie jumped to a 9-3 lead and appeared poised to force a decisive fifth set. But Highland Park clawed their way back to tie the score at 15-15, then surged ahead for a 25-18 victory to close out the match.
Despite the loss, Olivares highlighted standout performances from her key players. Hudgins finished with 14 kills, nine digs, one ace, and one block. Keelyn Green contributed eight kills, 19 digs, three aces, and two blocks, while DeGrate tallied eight kills, two blocks, and a dig.
“It was definitely an impressive battle coming out early in the game, especially from Julia,” Olivares said. “Her, Keelyn, and Aubrey all had their moments where they really carried us offensively.”
Earlier in the day, Wylie defeated Waxahachie in a rematch of an area-round playoff game from last season, with the Lady Pirates posting a 25-21, 25-23, 26-24 sweep of the Lady Indians.
As the Lady Pirates prepare for their next outing, Olivares said their focus will be on balancing out their offense to be able to continue making big plays.
Wylie returns to action later this week in a tournament in Rockwall, looking to build on lessons learned from a hard-fought home opener.
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