Playoff Bound
The Albany Lady Lions will enter the volleyball playoffs as the No. 2 seed out of District 6-2A after splitting matches with Coleman and Hawley.
The Lady Lions (29-5 overall, 6-2 district) closed out the district schedule Tuesday, Oct. 24, witha25-12,25-9, 25-6 Senior Night win over Ranger.
The team’s five seniors – Braylyn Abbate, Brooklyn Abbate, Callan Edgar, Robin Lucas, and Kiana Roberson – were recognized before the match.
Albany will host Breckenridge at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 in a playoff warmup.
The Lady Lions will meet District 5-2A third seed Water Valley at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31 at Snyder in the bidistrict round.
On Tuesday, Oct. 17,Albany swept Coleman 24-7, 25-12, 25-9 in the Lady Lions’ Pink Out match.
“The biggest thing is we raised $589 for Adalyn Kirby,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “She’s cancer-free right now. This will help with medical bills since she has to go have scans every four months or so.”
In addition to all concession stand sales, donations were added to the collection.
“ We j u s t wanted to help her family out somehow,” Reneau said. “We were so excited the community gave so much.” In the match, Roberson knocked down 10 kills with two blocks and recorded a teamhigh 14 digs. Abi Hale had 24 assists,11 digs, and seven aces. “The girls got to wear their pink jerseys, we had fun, and
See Volleyball, pg. 5B we won in three sets,” Reneau said.
Albany was denied a share of the district title Saturday, Oct. 21 with a 28-30, 25-18, 23-25, 17-25 loss to Hawley in a match played at Merkel.
Roberson had 25 kills and three blocks with Caroline Holson adding 12 kills and three blocks. Hale had 47 assists with Lucas executing 38 digs. Five players reached double figures in digs with Hale making 27.
“Weplayedasolidgame, and it could have gone either way,” Reneau said. “There were several balls they hit at us that we were just in the perfect position because we read them so well. We’d just get it back over the net and reset.”
Reneau said the Lady Lions performed well in all areas – serve, serve receive, hitting, defense.
“There were lots of long rallies,” she said. “Some we won, and some we didn’t. It was very evenly matched.”
Reneau said it was a good match to prepare the team for postseason play.
“Of course we wanted to be district champs, but now we’re preparing for the next step,” she said. “We’re glad to have some tough matches before the playoffs.”
Junior Varsity
The Lady Lions JV concluded the 2023 season against Hawley, losing 1525, 16-25.
On Tuesday, Oct. 10,Albany rallied to beat Bangs 23-25, 26-24, 15-11.
On Tuesday, Oct. 17, Albany lost to Coleman 17-25, 21-25.
