With a second set kill, senior outside hitter Chloe Kelly reached 1000 career kills. The landmark also made the Villanova commit top 35 in the country for the stat.

“I feel great about reaching this milestone,” Chloe said. “It’s been long-awaited and almost four years. I am so excited.”

The Chaparrals (15-6) fought hard but couldn’t overcome Cedar Park (13-7), losing their home opener 3-1 Tuesday evening at Al Bennett Court.

The Chaps started the first set off strong with a kill from the back row by Chloe and a deep tip down the left side of the court by freshman outside hitter Geralynn Byers-Veal. The two teams exchanged points, and a Westlake timeout paused the set at 5-5.

The set was tight all the way through, and the score was tied at 15-15 when the Chaps took a small lead after a kill by sophomore middle hitter Magdalene Ryan and an ace by junior libero Kaitlyn Tse, making the score 17-15. The Chaps rallied hard and went back and forth with the Timberwolves, never letting their lead reach over three points, but couldn’t quite take the set, dropping it 23-25.

Varsity volleyball began the second set with Clayton serving and earned the first point of the set on an ace. Their offense and serve receive brought them to a 6-6 tie.

“I look at what coach is telling me to do and where to serve, and I do my routine,” Clayton said. “I just take a deep breath and focus on the ball. I block out the crowd and everything else and just make sure I nail the ball in the court.”

The Chaps fought through the set and managed a five point run through a powerful ace from Tse and a big block in the front row by Clayton making the score 16-17, forcing Cedar Park to call a timeout. The set was back and forth but the Chaps fell again, this time 19-25.

“We were feeling down after the second set, and everyone on the court just had to keep each other motivated,” Chloe said.  “I looked to the other people on the court to see I wasn’t fighting by myself. I knew that I was with five other people looking to achieve the same goal I was.”

The Chaps came back with a fight in set three. They took an early lead, but Cedar Park climbed back and tied the score at 9-9. Chloe had a powerful kill from the outside, setting them up to gain a three point lead at 12-9, and they never let it up afterwards

Clayton’s four aces helped them take set three with a final score of 25-17.

“We did a great job in set three, especially coming back from adversity and bouncing back from the first two sets,” Clayton said.

Set four started out with Cedar Park taking an early lead, but Westlake fought hard in long rallies. Byers-Veal had a kill that gave the Chaps their first point of the set at 2-1.

The Chaps never managed to get the lead in set four, however, Saenz said they played hard with a lot of back-and-forth. The Timberwolves won the set 25-16 to complete the win.

“We need to work on our communication,” Saenz said. “We’re such a young team that we need to just learn how to play under pressure. These are good games for that.”

The Chaps have a lot of production to replace with only four returners, including Clayton and Chloe, senior middle hitter Sydney Yohe and junior libero Sunny McWilliams.

“They have so much learning to do,” Saenz said. “Just learning the game at a more deep, complex level is our goal moving forward,”

The Chaps head to Glenn High School for the Volleypalooza tournament this Thursday through Saturday.