Chargers give McDaniel first victory as Champion coach

Kelly McDaniel didn’t have to wait long to record her first victory as the new Boerne Champion volleyball coach.

In the team’s first match of the year Monday in Fredericksburg, the Lady Chargers defeated the Battlin’ Billies in four sets to give McDaniel her first win with the silver and blue.

Fred captured the first set, 18-25, but Champion won the next three, 25-17, 25-20, 25-23, to take the match and start the year at 1-0. The Chargers play in the Abilene Tournament this weekend.

“I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate our first win of the season with this group of athletes and coaches,” McDaniel said. “This set the tone for what we want from this season.”

McDaniel said nervous energy hurt her team in the first set but was pleased with their adjustments.

“Our girls were so excited to play their first match. They came into the gym with a lot of excitement, which let them start off a little rocky,” she said. “Our bench and sub-varsities in the stands kept our energy high and the girls just used that momentum for the rest of the match. Once we got into the second set, they sat back and really got into playing their own game and being very intentional.”

The coach added that Raylynn Pitts had a big match and paced the team on the court.

“Raylynn led the girls with a lot of passion and the rest fell in line,” McDaniel said.

Pitts finished with a double double after recording 18 kills and 10 digs, while Azteca Crawford tallied 20 assists, Brielle Boothe dropped in 5 aces and Briley Wolff came up with 7 blocks.

Wolff and Boothe both added 6 kills apiece, Ryann Michalec served up 3 aces and dished out 13 assists, while Boothe also had 7 digs.