Fulshear vs. Friendswood – Top Performers
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The early days of the high school volleyball season have arrived in Texas and for the next four months, every week will be filled with exciting matches across the Lone Star State. Prep Dig will be following the action closely…
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Continue ReadingThe early days of the high school volleyball season have arrived in Texas and for the next four months, every week will be filled with exciting matches across the Lone Star State.
Prep Dig will be following the action closely and every match I get to attend will be followed with a Top Performers Report, highlighting the prospects who stood out on the court, and a photo gallery.
On Tuesday, August 29, we followed the big Division 5A non-district encounter between the Fulshear Chargers and the Friendswood Mustangs.
Despite being on the road, the Mustangs won 3-1 (27-25, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24) to improve their season record to 8-6. Fulshear were upset for just the fourth time in the season and now stand at 19-4.
Top Performers
Caroline Adams
Caroline Adams
Friendswood’s sophomore setter has been a part of the team’s starting lineup at the start of the season and she had a remarkable performance against such strong opponents in Fulshear, registering 40 assists. Her ball distribution was excellent as Adams got a great feeling for the game and always knew who to feed in each moment of the match – she also remained pretty consistent and accurate with her locations. The setter also helped the team with her leadership and came up with big plays on both sides of the game, winning jousts at the net and making important digs on the backcourt (seven). Her serving was also very effective as the Mustangs had some good runs with her at the service line.
Friendswood’s strongest offensive player, Shelby had an excellent performance, carrying the team’s scoring with 27 kills and always providing an effective attacking option to her team. She was nearly unstoppable when in system as, besides using her reach well to overcome opposing blockers, she also displayed a very good shot selection, making very few errors considering her high usage rate. Shelby was also very efficient when hitting from the middle back position and that’s becoming one of her strongest plays. She also contributed in several other areas, getting two aces, five blocks and ten digs in big moments and passing well for the vast majority of the game.
Andi Vaught
Andi Vaught
Friendswood used their talented defensive specialists very well to deal with Fulshear’s service pressure and Vaught was probably the most consistent and productive among their defensive players. Always very calm and clean on the ball, she was very solid with every action she made, anchoring the team’s serve-receive system and using her excellent positioning to make defensive plays – she tallied seven digs. Vaught also caused a major impact from the service line every time she got there, getting Fulshear out of system and registering four aces. She was instrumental in the Mustangs’ comeback at the end of the second set with a strong serving run.
Sims had a very good display at the net and was particularly impressive with her blocking, getting seven stops. Reading the game well and timing her blocking moves even better, she got several touches at the net, turning into a real challenge for the Chargers, and stuffed Fulshear’s main hitter Bailey Warren Bailey Warren 5’10” | OH Fulshear | 2025 State #94 Nation TX four times during the match, some of them in critical moments. Sims also delivered important swings in difficult moments of the match and did a very good job in terms of limiting her errors, going with tips or switching power by finesse when she wasn’t in the ideal condition to swing.
Highlights
Warren overcame somewhat of a slow start and found her best game halfway through the second set. Her improvement reflected positively in the entire team’s play as Fulshear were a much better team when she got into a good rhythm. She was heavily marked by Friendswood’s blocker and defenders, but still found ways to produce at a good level and several of her swings had a high level of difficulty. Warren mixed things up well offensively and was also very solid on the backcourt, passing consistently, making strong defensive plays and having a nice serving run on set two.
If Warren was Fulshear’s most productive player, Witte was arguably their most consistent performer throughout the match. Her game remained steady from start to finish and she contributed well on both sides of the ball. Witte sided out in difficult moments and in out-of-system plays, tooling the block or tipping with great intelligence. She also passed well and got some important digs. The outside hitter got back-to-back aces in a critical moment in set three and played a major role in her team’s victory in that set.