Girls perform well in tourney
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team won four of seven matches last week, finishing third at the Aspermont tournament in their final tourney of the season.
Albany (10-8) began the fourth week of the schedule Tuesday, Aug. 30, with a 11-25, 11-25, 22-25 loss at Abilene Christian. Details will be reported next week.
Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau announced a schedule change for the weekend with Albany hosting Woodson on Saturday, Sept. 3, instead of Water Valley. The JV1 will play at 10:00 a.m. with the varsity match to follow.
On Tuesday, Aug. 23, the Lady Lions dropped a four-set match to Bryson at home, falling 24-26, 19-25, 25-18, 24-26.
Kiana Roberson led Albany with 12 kills, 30 digs and a block. Caroline Holson added seven kills, nine digs, and a block.
Robin Lucas recorded 28 digs, while Abi Hale added 15 digs and 21 assists. Brooklyn Abbate had six digs.
Hale had two service aces with Lucas, Holson, Roberson, and Caroline Chapman each adding one.
On Thursday, Aug. 25, Albany went 2-1 in pool play at the Aspermont tournament. The Lady Lions beat Paducah 25-14, 25-5, then lost 10-25, 22-25 to Ropes before beating Rotan 25-10, 25-16.
“Ropes was a good team,” Reneau said. “They were hitting a lot, and you could tell we’d been at the gym all day.”
On Saturday, Aug. 27, the Lady Lions opened bracket play with a 25-12, 25-16 victory over Colorado City before losing to tournament champion Newcastle 17-25, 24-26 in the semifinals. Albany then won a rematch with Ropes 25-18, 25-16 for third place.
Roberson and Hale were named to the all-tournament team.
“It was a great tournament,” Reneau said. “I was really proud of the way we responded. To come back and beat Ropes was very good for us.”
Reneau said the Lady Lions have made significant progress through the first three weeks of matches.
“We’ve come a long way,” she said. “We’ve had a couple of girls step up and be leaders on the court. We’ve had time to do some team bonding and set some goals for the season, so overall it was a great weekend.”
The Lady Lions have been without two of their three seniors – Gracie Price and Brooke Kayga – because of injuries. Kayga was injured in the final practice before the first scrimmage and has yet to take the court in a match.
Reneau said the team’s younger players have filled in quite well.
“We’ve had to adjust our lineup, but everyone is stepping up,” Reneau said. “The girls are doing a good job.”
ALBANY VS. BRYSON
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 20 1 1 28 - -
C.Edgar 10 - 1 3 - -
E.Webb - - 2 3 - -
A.Hale 18 2 3 15 - 21
C.Chapman 12 1 - 1 - -
By.Abbate 4 - - 1 - -
C.Holson 15 1 7 9 1 -
K.Roberson 10 1 12 30 1 -
Bk.Abbate 4 - - 6 - -
Junior Varsity
The JV1 defeated Bryson 25-14, 25-8 in the only subvarsity match of the week.
The JV1 improved to 3-4 on the season with what coach Jamie Wilson called the team’s best match of the year.
“The girls worked together, talked the whole time, and kept their energy up the whole game,” Wilson said. “We had some great serves. Alli McDaniel had 10 serves in a row, and Kaisley Bartee had runs of six in a row in one set and seven in the other.”
