First year head volleyball coach Clint Brown got off to a good start with his Lady Eagles sweeping Chaparral 25-14, 25-17 and 25-16 to open the season at home Aug. 7.

Newcomer Payton Ortega led the Lady Eagles in attacking the net with 9 kills on 18 attempts.

Elsie Law followed with 7 kills on 11 attempts. Also registering kills were Haley Brown; 6 kills on 16 attempts; Macy Morris, 5 kills on 13 attempts, Kael Wilcox, 5 kills on 11 attempts; Mazzy Johnson, 2 kills on 4 attempts and Livia Niu, 2 kills on 6 attempts.

Sara Ellis led the girls in serving with 4 aces. Also scoring aces were Morris and Niu, 2 each and Reese Rich and Jillian Taylor, 1 each.

Morris had 5 blocks, followed by Niu, 4 blocks and Law, 1 block.

Rich led the girls in digs with 10, followed by Grace Clemons, 6, Ellis, 5, Kael Wilcox and Niu, 3 each, Ortega, 2 and Morris, Shelby Hollywood and Haley Brown, 1 each.

Niu had 32 assists while Wilcox and Rich had 1 each.

While this is Brown’s first year as head volleyball coach, he has been an assistant in the Salado program for seven years.

The Lady Eagles return  eight players from last year’s Region Semi-Finalist team, which went 32-16 and 9-1 as District Champs.

Livia Niu was last year’s District 23-4A  Setter of the Year. She was also named to the Texas Girls Coaches Association All-State Team. She had 495 assists for the girls last year.

Senior Libero Reese Rich was named to the First Team All District. She led the team with 753 serves received. 

Junior middle blocker Macy Morris was also named to the first team All-District. She had 66 blocks to lead the girls.

Sophomore middle blocker Elsie Law was named to the second team All-District. She had 49 blocks on the year.

Senior defensive specialist Grace Clemons was also named second team. She had 282 digs on the year and received 310 serves.

Senior defensive specialist Sara Ellis received Honorable Mention. She had 332 digs and received 395 serves last year.

Sophomore Outside Hitter Haley Brown also received Honorable Mention. She had 241 kills last year.

Senior Defensive Specialist Elly Wade also returns from last year’s varsity team, where she had 10 digs and 2 blocks.

Newcomers to the varsity team are Junior Specialist Shelby Hollywood, Sophomore Outside Hitter Payton Ortega, Senior Defensive Specialist Ariel Cebreco, Junior Defensive Specialist Jill Taylor and Freshman Outside Hitter Mazzy Johnson.