Girls post wins in first 2 district games
By Donnie A. Lucas
The varsity Lady Lion volleyball team opened District 6-2A competition with a pair of wins over Strawn and Newcastle during the last week.
First-round action will continue on Saturday with the Hawley Lady Bearcats visiting for bouts between the only actual 2A teams in the district. Games start at 10:00 a.m. for JV II, 11:00 a.m. for JV I and 12:00 noon for the varsity.
The Lady Lions will play a set of non-district games next Tuesday, Sept. 24 in Coleman. Games start at 4:30 p.m.
Albany brought home a 25-21, 26-24, 25-14 win from Newcastle on Tuesday. Complete results were not available at press time but will be reported next week. The win gave Albany an 11-10 overall record, including 2-0 in district.
The district race opened Saturday at the local gym against Strawn. Albany picked up a three-game win 25-9, 25-12, 25-16.
“The girls started out district strong, and I am so proud of them,” head coach M.J. Reneau said. “We worked hard to speed up our offense, and it showed. Our setters and hitters ran the plays well and executed.”
The coach added that the defense recorded 41 digs in the three games.
“Strawn was good about moving the ball around, but our back row didn’t allow many balls to hit the floor,” she said. “The girls are very excited to be facing Hawley on Saturday.”
albany VS. strawn
PLAYER Serves Kills Digs Blks Asst
T Fuentes 13 0 13 0 0
B Belcher 6 0 3 0 0
A Hill 2 5 7 1 0
A Garcia 2 1 2 0 0
C Holson 23 1 5 0 14
H Trail 11 2 1 1 0
A Denton 0 5 1 0 0
M Connally 0 4 1 0 2
T Scott 8 3 8 1 0
The varsity also hosted 3A Breckenridge on Sept. 10 in the final pre-district matchup. Albany battled four games, but came up short 12-25, 13-25, 25-21, 12-25.
albany VS. Breckenridge
PLAYER Serves Kills Digs Blks Asst
T Fuentes 8 0 15 0 0
B Belcher 10 0 5 0 0
A Hill 6 6 6 4 1
A Garcia 2 4 3 0 1
S Cotter 8 7 1 1 0
C Holson 11 0 7 0 11
C Nelson 0 1 0 1 4
A Denton 0 3 3 0 0
M Connally 0 0 2 0 0
T Scott 12 2 6 0 0
“We are excited to have all our players healthy and back in action,” the coach said. “Breckenridge is a tough team at the net, and I am glad we were able to win a set after giving up two. We have played a tough pre-district schedule to prepare us for the district race.”
JV Results
The JV Red also opened district in the win column, beating Strawn on Saturday, 25-15, 25-16.
“The girls started district well,” coach Jamie Wilson said. “We had a couple of changes, but the girls took that and played through it. There were multiple aces from multiple players.”
Due to injuries, Newcastle was unable to put a JV on the floor against Albany, but both the Red and White teams should be in action Saturday morning against Hawley.
Both teams hosted Breckenridge on Sept. 10, falling to the Lady Bucks.
The JV Red lost 25-20, 25-13 to Breckenridge.
“We didn’t play our best, but we still saw some good things,” said Wilson. “I feel the girls were very scrappy and had some good serves.”
The JV White lost in three games to Breckenridge, 25-20, 22-25, 8-15.
“We had a great start to the match, with the girls firing on all cylinders, but we couldn’t finish the fight,” the coach said. “I’m proud of the good things we saw.”
The Red team stands at 11-6 for the season, including a 1-0 district mark. The White team has a 5-6 overall record.
