By Thomas Jones, Sports Editor

A day after gutting out an impressive win, the Chaps received a heavy dose of humility.

Leander (2-0) stunned No. 2 state-ranked Westlake in four games Tuesday at Westlake High School for its first win over the Chaps in program history. Westlake (2-1) rebounded with a sweep over McCallum later in the evening, but the match with Leander and any lessons learned still lingered with Coach Al Bennett and his team.

“We were humbled, no question about it,” he said. “I hope we learned several things: You can’t take anyone for granted, and you can’t practice poorly like we did today. You play like you practice.”

Although the Chaps grinded out a thrilling five-game win over highly touted Westwood Monday, Bennett refused to use any possible letdown as an excuse.

“We turned around and did it last year, so we can’t blame the Westwood game,” he said. “The effect of the Westwood match was that maybe we were thinking that we’re better than what we are. We still have work to do.”

That work starts with trimming down the errors that plagued Westlake in the 18-25, 25-19, 26-24, 30-28 loss to Leander. The Chaps committed 31 hitting errors, one of the highest tallies during Bennett’s 22-year tenure at Westlake. They also had nine passing errors and four net violations, which more than offset nine aces and 44 kills.

“Coach was very disappointed in us,” libero Tessa Hunt said. “I can’t say exactly what he said; he just said we weren’t focusing on our responsibilities, and he told us that after the game. They played well and dug a lot of balls, but Coach was right. We should have done better.”

Miscues hurt Westlake, but so did the play of Leander’s 6-foot-2-inch senior middle blocker Ashlee Hilbun. In the second game, Hilbun accounted for the Lions’ three final points as they rallied from a 23-21 deficit to secure the win. The Chaps had two hitting errors in that span.

Hilbun played big in the fourth frame, as well. After Westlake fended off four match points and took a one-point lead, Hilbun evened the score at 28-28 with a thunderous dunk and then snuffed two consecutive shots to trigger the Lions’ celebration.

Hilbun ended the match with 12 kills and nine of Leander’s 12 blocks. Kayley Corse led the Lions with 15 kills, and Rachel Scott doled out 36 assists.

“We played so well against Westwood  [on Monday], so it was a let down,” Hunt said. “We let ourselves down, and we let Coach down.”

Ella Praisner paced Westlake with 14 kills, and middle blocker Kenzie Hume continued her strong start to the season with nine kills and just one hitting error. Outside hitter Priscilla Leake received ample playing time and delivered nine kills, and Paige Caridi added seven kills and five aces.

 

Team rebounds against McCallum

Despite the setback to Leander, Bennett didn’t waver from his plan to extend significant playing time throughout his 19-player roster.

The players responded with a convincing 25-14, 25-15, 25-17 win over the Knights that eased the sting from the earlier loss.

“We had some fun out there [against McCallum],” Hunt said. “The girls came together and played really well.”

Mary Margaret Parrish and Lauren Mitchell tied for team-high honors with seven kills, and Hume and Meredith Furst each added six kills. Praisner delivered five kills while playing one game, and Jennifer Schuler had six kills.

“The girls that got on the court against McCallum did great,” Bennett said. “The setting was good, the hitting was good, and we had a good rhythm.”

Averi Edwards collected the bulk of the assists in the Leander match, but Bennett turned the offense over to Amanda Welsh and Jenny Astrachan against the Knights. Welsh responded with 16 assists, and Astrachan had 10 assists.