Farmersville junior Lillian Couture hits the ball over the net as seniors Isabella Lopez and Peighton Purser look on during Tuesday’s season-opening match against Pottsboro. Farmersville won the match in three sets. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media
By David Wolman
The Farmersville volleyball team came into Tuesday’s season opener with the belief that it was going to be a more balanced team this year and have better depth at every position on the court – more hitters, a better defense and improved serving.
Just about every player filled the stat sheet in at least one statistical category, leading the Lady Farmers to a 3-0 sweep of Pottsboro (25-17, 25-12, 25-11) and a 3-1 win over Sulphur Springs (25-11, 17-25, 25-6, 25-21) from Farmersville Arena.
“I feel like there is balance,” said head coach Arian May. “There are some people that can really step up. Honestly, all of our hitters have the ability to step up and be in those top kills category. I think that we’re going to see a mixture of people in the top kills category. If someone wants to attack Peighton (Purser), we have someone else who can step up.”
Purser thrived under pressure last year and finished as the team leader in kills, service aces and blocks. The Sam Houston State commit again rose to the occasion on Tuesday. Having an even more powerful swing this year, she hit the ball hard, finishing the afternoon with 36 kills.
Purser was also a factor behind the service line as was sophomore Nidya Duran, whose serving led Farmersville on extended scoring runs against Pottsboro. In the first set, Duran posted three straight aces to help the Lady Farmers build on their lead over the Lady Cardinals. Farmersville and Pottsboro were tied 4-4, but the Lady Farmers finished on a 21-13 run to claim the opening set.
Farmersville was also working in some new players Tuesday. One of them was freshman Emree Brazil. Brazil brought a hard swing to the court. Halfway through the second set, Brazil placed a hard liner through the middle of Pottsboro’s defense for a kill to break a 7-7 tie. Her kill began an 18-5 Farmersville run to end the second set.
“They went out and played confident,” May said. “Even though there wasn’t a huge crowd, they still had jitters but worked through that. To me, they looked more put together than I expected.”
Brazil is working to get acclimated to a new-look front row for Farmersville that includes Duran, Purser, senior middle blocker Aaliya Corzine, senior outside hitter Presley McIver, junior middle hitter Cambrant Donaldson and junior middle/outside hitter Lillian Couture.
Couture, like Duran, is new to the program. Couture, who transferred from Coleville, California, made several plays in Farmersville’s block and added two kills in the final set against Pottsboro and seven more against Sulphur Springs.
Many of those kills were set up by hustle plays by Farmersville’s defense. The Lady Farmers had a great showing from their back row, which is anchored by senior libero Isabella Lopez and junior defensive specialist Brinlea McDole.
During one play against Sulphur Springs, Farmersville’s bench players rose from their seats and cheered on after Duran reached out with her right arm to make a one-handed dig.
The only real adversity that Farmersville faced on the night came during the second set against Sulphur Springs. Hitting errors piled up for the Lady Farmers in an eight-point loss. However, Farmersville responded with a dominant 11-0 run to begin the third set, and the Lady Farmers went on to win the match in four sets.
“We were just trying a lot of things offensively and they sold through trying those things and made a lot of hitting errors,” May said. “We were working on threes and slides with our middles. It’s okay because they were just trying out some things. They didn’t lose their composure when they lost that second set. They went back out and did what they had done so well in the first set.”
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