After nearly a minute of intense play at match point, Coppell sophomore outside hitter Reagan Engler slams the ball downwards at the front of the net, closing off a day playing seven sets, swept by Sachse, 25-18, 25-18, 25-21, and playing four sets Frisco Reedy, 26-24, 19-25, 25-13, 25-21, on Saturday at the CHS Arena.

Two wins on Friday, sweeping Frisco Lone Star, 25-23, 25-10, 25-23, and Keller Central, 25-12, 25-10, 25-12, more smoothly, geared the Cowgirls up for a rematch against Sachse and their first taste of Frisco Reedy.

“Scores would reflect that we were a little bit inconsistent [against Frisco Lone Star],” Coppell coach Julie Price said. “Just working on ironing out some rotations and getting some consistency. It was a little bit up and down but we did a lot of good things. We looked really good [against Central], like we were clicking offensively.”

Sachse, though having played them before, proved to be just as tough an opponent as the last time. 

“Our work did help against Sachse, we just couldn’t find our rhythm in the first game,” Coppell junior middle hitter Aley Clent said. “We were playing timidly and some of us weren’t going for the things we knew we could make. We started off strong in the third set and we ultimately fell short. But if we can start our games like we started the third set, we can come back and be more successful.”

Being both fast-paced and having bigger players, Coppell’s many attempts to match play were pushed down easily, though the last set was played more evenly.

“They are a big team and they are fast so a little bit different style than what we played yesterday and we couldn’t just quite match that in terms of pace,” Price said. “We would run a good ball and they would come right back. We just struggled to match them in terms of pacing offensively. The kids did some really good things but ultimately we didn’t make enough game times adjustments in order to win that one. “

Coppell junior libero Beca Centeno and Coppell senior middle hitter Madison Gilland stood out on the court in both matches, with Centeno keeping the defense relatively strong throughout and Gilland taking several kill shots. Working on defense for the past few weeks, the team’s blocking was at its best. And after the past several weeks’ serving errors, this weeks’ serves were cleaned up almost entirely, though there were still no free points gained from it.

Against Reedy, Coppell played with an intensity matched by the opposition.

“That’s a good athletic team, I thought our kids did a really good job of making game-time adjustments, things we’d talked about all morning that we weren’t able to do,” Price said. “We did a really good job of making adjustments on the block and also just mixing our shots up and being mindful of what the defense was giving us to work with.”

This weekend’s matches foreshadowed District 6-6A play and how tough going far in the playoffs would truly be, with strong teams like Sachse crowding the lineup. Still, Coppell remains undiscouraged.

“Didn’t start the day off playing our best ball, but really proud of how our kids came back and finished today,” Price said.

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