Albany girls unbeaten in district
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team overcame an injury to a key player last week to extend its winning streak to 10 matches and complete the first round of District 6-2A play unbeaten.
The Lady Lions (21-7 overall, 5-0 district) started the second half of district Tuesday, Oct. 11, with a 25-21, 25-23, 25-16 win over Bangs at home. Details will be reported next week.
Albany will have an open date Saturday, Oct. 15 before visiting Coleman on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
On Tuesday, Oct. 4, Albany swept Hawley 25-19, 26-24, 25-16 on the road in a battle for sole possession of first place in the district standings. That was followed by a 25-17, 25-8, 25-13 victory over Ranger on Saturday, Oct. 8 at home to close out the first half.
The win against Hawley came at a price as junior middle blocker Kiana Roberson, the team leader in kills, suffered an ankle injury that is expected to keep her out for the rest of the regular season.
“I told the girls we’re not slowing down,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “We prepare for this. In practice, everybody plays all different positions, and in case we’re faced with something like this, the next person’s ready to step up.”
Reneau said there’s an outside chance Roberson could return if Albany makes a deep playoff run.
“We’re hoping for the best, but we’re not expecting her back,” Reneau said. “Right now, Callan Edgar’s going to step into playing middle for a while until we see if Kiana can come back.”
At Hawley, Roberson had 15 kills, three blocks, and 15 digs before being hurt late in the third set, Caroline Holson added seven kills, while Edgar had four kills and a block.
Abi Hale registered 27 assists and 10 digs, with Robin Lucas making 10 digs.
Holson was the leading server with four of Albany’s 10 aces, while Hale had three, and Caroline Chapman had two.
“We set the tone,” Reneau said. “The girls were very intense. I thought they did great.”
Against Ranger, Holson and Ella Webb each had five kills with Brooke Kayga, Edgar, and Hale adding three apiece. Seven players recorded at least one kill.
Hale had 16 assists. Lucas led with 11 digs with Holson adding 10. Lucas also had four aces, while Holson and Gracie Price added two apiece.
“I was so proud of the girls Saturday because I felt like we didn’t let up at all,” Reneau said. “At the very beginning, we had to figure out some new positions, but we were able to look at three different lineups.”
Saturday’s match was Albany’s Pinkout for Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the Lady Lions wearing pink shirts.
“We were able to raise some money for a local lady who has had cancer,” Reneau said. “I felt like it was a huge success.”
ALBANY VS. HAWLEY
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 5 - - 10 - -
G.Price 10 1 1 2 - -
B.Kayga - - 1 - - -
C.Edgar - - 4 4 1 1
E.Webb 2 - 1 2 - -
A.Hale 15 3 1 13 - 27
C.Chapman 11 2 1 6 - -
C.Holson 17 4 7 6 - -
K.Roberson 6 - 15 15 3 -
Bk.Abbate - - - 2 - -
ALBANY VS. RANGER
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 13 4 - 11 - -
G.Price 11 2 1 7 - -
B.Kayga 5 - 3 - - -
C.Edgar 8 1 3 1 1 -
E.Webb - - 5 3 - -
A.Hale 11 1 3 3 - 16
C.Chapman 3 1 - 1 - -
By.Abbate - - - 1 - 1
C.Holson 11 2 5 10 - -
Bk.Abbate 6 1 1 2 - -
Junior Varsity
Albany played just one JV match last week, with JV1 falling to Hawley 18-25, 24-26.
Coach Jamie Wilson said both JV1 and JV2 were scheduled to play at Bangs and both are expected to play next week against Coleman and Hawley to finish their season.
“This will all be tentative, as we usually have to make a decision the day before because we aren’t sure on numbers sometimes,” Wilson said.
Junior High
The junior high teams did not play Monday, Oct. 10 because of the Columbus Day holiday.
The Lady Cubs will play at Bangs on Thursday, Oct. 13 (tonight), starting with the seventh grade match at 5:00 p.m.
The last two junior high matches will be Monday, Oct. 17 at Coleman and Monday, Oct. 24 at Ranger.
