Girls open second round with win
By Donnie A. Lucas
The Lady Lion volleyball team closed out the first half of district action by splitting games last week to drop to fourth place with a 3-3 record.
Albany opened the second round of District 6-2A with a victory over Strawn on Tuesday, 25-9, 25-22, 25-9. Details will be reported next week.
The girls will be on the road on Saturday, traveling to Newcastle. The JV will start the action at 11:00 a.m., followed by the varsity game at 12:00 p.m.
Hawley, the district leader at this point, will visit Albany next Tuesday, Oct. 9 for three games. The JV White will begin at 4:00 p.m. followed by the JV Red at 5:00 p.m. The varsity will take the court at about 6:15 p.m.
The Hawley game will serve as the annual “pink out” game for cancer awareness. The public will have the opportunity to donate to the cause.
The varsity defeated Woodson on Sept. 25 in straight sets, 25-20, 25-19, 25-14.
“The girls served well this game, but overall it was one of the sloppiest games we’ve played,” coach Kimberly Hill said. “We were fortunate to come away with the straight sets.”
albany VS.Woodson
PLAYER Serves Kills Digs Blks Passes Asst
B Belcher 2 0 2 0 0 0
A Hill 9 3 7 0 4 1
T Fuentes 6 1 0 0 0 6
A Garcia 12 2 5 0 2 1
H Trail 0 3 0 0 0 0
A Balliew 6 0 5 0 2 0
A Denton 0 3 0 0 1 0
M Connally 11 5 2 0 2 1
T Scott 13 4 3 0 2 6
The Lady Lions traveled to Ranger on Friday, bringing back a loss that went five sets, 25-21, 25-21, 14-25, 16-25, 13-15.
“We headed into the third set with a two-game lead, but we started missing serves and making hitting errors,” Hill said. “We gave Ranger the advantage and the points they needed to win. They didn’t beat us; we beat ourselves.”
The coach said despite losing the third and fourth sets, the Lady Lions had the lead in the fifth set.
“We went into the fifth set with a healthy lead, but we got the error bug again and watched our cushion crumble,” the coach said. “I really believe how young we are as a team had a lot to do with it. We don’t quite have the experience and composure needed to finish out a match sometimes.”
The coach said she feels that the team will continue to improve, but is still enduring growing pains.
albany VS. ranger
PLAYER Serves Kills Digs Blks Passes Asst
B Belcher 12 0 7 0 2 0
A Hill 9 17 24 2 23 0
T Fuentes 10 1 10 0 1 13
A Garcia 7 1 12 0 8 0
H Trail 0 4 2 1 0 0
A Balliew 15 0 8 0 8 0
A Denton 0 9 3 0 2 0
M Connally 3 6 10 0 14 0
T Scott 20 0 7 0 9 16
JV Posts Wins
The JV earned a pair of victories last week, winning in two games each over Woodson and Ranger.
Albany defeated Woodson on Sept. 25 by a score of 25-12, 25-13.
“We had some opportunities to try some spot serving and the girls liked that challenge,” coach Lauren Peacock said. The girls stayed focused during the entire game, which is something we previously struggled with.”
The team also won in Ranger, 25-10, 25-11.
“It was again a very controlled game for the girls,” Peacock said. “They served the ball really well. We had a very solid game overall.”
The coach mentioned the efforts of Kam Browning, Tana Thompson, Marty Jo Farmer, Carli Edgar, Sarah Cotter, and Landree Connally in the two games.
