Felder leads Calallen to easy win over Flour Bluff

By Matt Young
Caller-Times

FLOUR BLUFF - The Calallen volleyball team is missing four players - including two starters - due to injuries, but luckily for the Wildcats, they have a nice backup plan.
   Her name is Kendra Felder.
   With several players out of action, Calallen set the ball to its big hitter as often as possible, and Felder responded by leading the Wildcats to a 15-8, 15-10 win over Flour Bluff in the District 31-4A season-opener Tuesday.
   Felder led Calallen (15-7, 1-0) with 15 kills and four blocks. Calallen sophomore Ashley Stark contributed two kills and three blocks. Flour Bluff (11-7, 0-1) was led by Adrianne Greene's seven kills.
   "With all the injuries, we really feel like we have to go to Kendra," Calallen coach Lupe Cardona said. "We set her a lot, and she came through."
   Calallen had a slim 7-5 lead over Flour Bluff in the second game before Calallen setter Jacey Miersma began feeding Felder and blew the game open. The Wildcats scored four straight points on Felder kills or blocks to stretch the lead to 11-5.
   "Kendra and Jacey have been playing together for the past three years, so we like that combination," Cardona said. "We expect that combination to come through for us in the clutch."
   Felder's big arm swing left Flour Bluff's defense scrambling all over the court searching for a dig.
   "(Felder) was in control of the game, obviously," Flour Bluff coach Keith Johnson said. "We tried to run a few different things at her defensively. Some of those things worked, some didn't. We'll have to come up with some new stuff the next time we play Calallen."
   As the defending district champion, Cardona said she was pleased with the way her team responded on the road against a district contender.
   "I tell our girls all the time that we've got to be ready to play, because everyone's always gunning for us," Cardona said. "Everyone wants to beat us, and that's OK. We just have to be ready to meet that challenge."