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Albany to host Summer Slam tourney

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The 2018 volleyball season got off to a quick start last week, starting summer workouts on Wednesday and scrimmaging area teams by Friday.

Albany coaches got a good look at the 34 players vying for slots on one the three teams this season during scrimmages held Friday in Clyde and Saturday in Breckenridge.

The regular season opened on the road Tuesday against Jim Ned in Tuscola.

The varsity suffered a 20-25, 15-25, 19-25 loss in the opener, while the JV Red posted a 6-25, 13-25 loss. The JV White team was defeated 19-25, 21-25.

Details about the first games of the season were not available at press time but will be reported next week.

Albany will be back in action this weekend hosting the annual Albany Summer Slam Tournament on Friday and Saturday. A total of 16 JV and freshmen teams will play in two brackets on Friday, with 10 varsity squads facing off on Saturday.

Games for the JV Red start at 8:00 a.m. Friday in the new gym, with JV White starting at 9:00 a.m. in the old gym. The varsity will play Abilene Christian School in the first round on Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

Daily ticket prices will be $3 for adults and $2 for students. The volleyball program is also hosting the concession stand.

Varsity teams entered in the one-day tournament on Saturday include Bronte, Early, Eastland, Breckenridge, Ranger, Bangs, Abilene Christian School, Rotan, Lingleville, and Albany.

“Having 34 girls out this year is great,” head coach Kimberly Hill said. “We got to see the girls in action during the scrimmages, but the tournament games will help us finalize where we need to place people.”

Scrimmage Results

The Lady Lions opened the season last Friday with scrimmages against Clyde and Early.

“We had some nerves and uncertainty to work through in the first scrimmage against Early,” Hill said. “I’m pretty sure we would have beaten them if we had kept score.”

The coach said the Lady Lions played strong against Clyde.

“We were able to hold our own against Clyde, who had more established hitters,” she said. “I saw lots of hustle from the girls.”

The coach said that the varsity only had nine missed serves on Friday.

“I pulled three girls up against Clyde to work them into the rotation and see where they might fit.”

Hill said that she saw a considerable amount of improvement on Saturday in Breckenridge.

“We split timed halves with Breckenridge, winning the first one 24-22,” Hill said. “We had a harder time getting into a rhythm in the second game, losing 28-18.”

The coach credited the team with being “scrappy” and never giving up.

“We were able to work in more girls in the scrimmage against Munday,” she said. “We dropped our level of play a little, but it was still a good scrimmage that allowed us to see the girls playing in various positions.”

The team also scrimmaged Dublin.

“Dublin was a good team and we had trouble with missed serves,” the coach said. “We also struggled a little getting passes to the setter, which caused a domino effect with other aspects of the game that we have got to learn to control.”

Hill said that the varsity scrimmaged Mineral Wells later in the day.

“They were the best team we played, but we played them very close and held our own,” she said. “There were some freshmen who stepped up and did a good job to help us out.”

Overall, the coach noted that the players are young.

“There are going to be mistakes with younger players, but those are things that can be fixed,” she said. “They are all very coachable and have had great attitudes so far.”

The JV teams also scrimmaged on Friday and Saturday.

“For just two days of practice, the scrimmages went better than anticipated,” JV coach Lauren Peacock said. “The girls made a good transition for the first week of the season.”

She said that there will be 12 players on both JV teams.

“So that means they will be battling for positions,” she said.