Sweeping Tuesday’s match against Azle, 25-15, 25-14, 25-15, the Cowgirls head into their next preseason matches against Frisco Lone Star, Keller Central, Sachse and Frisco Reedy on Saturday with a new enthusiasm.

On Friday, Cowgirls will play Frisco Reedy at 5 p.m. and Keller Central at 8 p.m. at the CHS Arena, and on Saturday, they will play Sachse at 1 p.m. and Frisco Reedy at 4 p.m.

“It was exciting to start our season off with a win,” Coppell junior middle blocker Alessandra Clent said. “The game was really good, it really solidified us. It took us a second to get used to playing again, first set, but after that, in the second two sets, we were communicating on defense really well. We only got to play Azle so it felt almost like a regular match. ”

Going into the week, the team expected to play both Fossil Ridge and Azle on Tuesday, but due to COVID-19 reasons, Fossil Ridge was forced to quarantine and cancel the match.

“We found out on Monday,” Clent said. “We weren’t expecting to be at Azle, we were actually expecting to be at Fossil Ridge. It was a little bit of a shocker but we’re nothing if not flexible, like [Coppell volleyball coach Julie Price] likes to say. 

This year, all preseason matches will be played two at a time, meaning the Cowgirls could end up playing up to 10 sets in a night.

“Because of all the extra conditions and things we’ve been able to do, we’ll be prepared to adjust to this new format from the preseason,” Clent said.

At Friday’s game, the Cowgirls expect to see a familiar face among the opposition, former Coppell freshmen B volleyball coach Sydney Davis, now coaching for Frisco Lone Star. 

“We’re expecting a fight, so we’ve to get into our groove,” Clent said. “It’s only our second official game of the season. Luckily, with the scrimmages, we got a lot of important feedback about things we needed to work on. We’re going to take that an adapt it into our practice this week so we can fix those things before we get further in the preseason.”

Playing Sachse again after their scrimmage last week, the Cowgirls hope to see if the changes they made to their game were effective.

“We’ve been working on blocking on block coverage and really pressing over the net,” Clent said. “Sachse has some big girls, so it’ll be the perfect opportunity to see if our practice is paying off since we’ve been working hard in practice this week to improve. We’re learning the ins and outs of the game with the new players and the communication aspects and also, we’re working a lot on serving and being extra tough on our serves to really make that serve on the first ball.”

The other teams are still somewhat unknown and having never played them before, the Cowgirls aren’t preparing for much in particular, planning to continue the working aspects of their game.

“The team dynamic and everybody’s every was really good and it allowed us to really step in and be ready to play those opponents and trust each other,” Clent said. 

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