Ladies advance to playoffs as district co-champions
By Sam Waller
Senior Day did not go the way the Albany Lady Lions wanted, ending in a five-set loss to Hawley on Saturday, Oct. 22 in a key District 6-2A volleyball match.
The Lady Lions (23-8 overall, 7-1 district) closed out the regular season Tuesday, Oct. 25, by sweeping Ranger 25-8, 25-13, 25-14 on the road.
Lady Lion coach M.J. Reneau said that since Albany and Hawley, who split their district matches, tied for first place, seeding was determined Wednesday by flipping a coin, with the Lady Lions ending up as the second place seed.
Because it was decided that there will be no district playoff, Albany and Hawley will be considered co-champions, Reneau said.
Albany will play the third place team from District 5A, but that will not be known until Saturday.
Sonora, Junction, and Miles are in a three-way tie for for second, third, and fourth in that district, with playoffs set this week on Thursday and Saturday.
“Our plan is to finish district strong and prepare for the playoffs,” Reneau said. “We’ve been looking to see who we might play depending on our seed, but we won’t know that until Saturday. We’re going to press forward.”
Albany will host Aspermont at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 in a playoff warmup match before facing a District 5 team in bi-district at a time, date, location, and even opponent still to be determined at press time. The first-round matches must be played Monday, Oct. 31 or Tuesday, Nov. 1.
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Albany recorded its 12th consecutive victory, winning 28-26, 15-25, 25-17, 25-18 at Coleman.
Ella Webb had 11 kills with Caroline Holson and Caroline Chapman knocking down six apiece. Holson and Callan Edgar, who had four kills, each had a block.
Abi Hale had five kills and 27 assists and was joined by Gracie Price with four service aces. Holson added three aces.
Hale also led the team in digs with 16, followed by Robin Lucas with 12, Price with 11 and Holson with nine.
Against Hawley, the Lady Lions were unable to stop Hawley’s comeback, falling 25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 11-25, 8-15.
“I think we had a great game and played really well,” Reneau said. “Our girls were competitive the whole time; we just had a slow start in the third and fourth sets and couldn’t catch back up. We waited too long.”
Before the match, seniors Ella Webb, Gracie Price, and Brooke Kayga were honored.
Webb finished Tuesday’s game with 10 kills, while Holson and Chapman had six each with Edgar and Hale adding four apiece. Edgar, Hale, and Braylyn Abbate each had a block.
Hale made 28 assists and served six aces. Lucas posted 29 digs with Hale adding 21. Price finished with 13 digs and Brooklyn Abbate had 11.
The match was back-and-forth most of the way with 27 ties and 15 lead changes. Kayga said being in such a match will benefit Albany in the postseason.
“I think it helps us a lot just to learn from our mistakes and keep going,” she said.
While Saturday’s outcome was disappointing, Webb said the Lady Lions have accomplished quite a bit this season.
“I feel like we’ve played strong,” she said. “Usually, we have amazing comebacks. Our team has really come together this season, and all of our seniors have led really well.”
Fellow senior Price said that the goal now is to make a deep run in the playoffs.
“We want to go to the regional tournament,” Price said. “We might get to play Hawley again.”
Albany was again without middle blocker Kiana Roberson for both matches last week, but the junior was in uniform and went through pregame warmups on Saturday.
“We were testing to see how she felt,” Reneau said.
Roberson was on the court for the Ranger matches on Tuesday night.
ALBANY VS. COLEMAN
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 5 - - 12 - 1
G.Price 17 4 - 11 - -
B.Kayga - - - 2 - -
C.Edgar 10 1 4 3 1 -
E.Webb 4 - 11 3 - -
A.Hale 23 4 5 16 - 27
C.Chapman 4 1 6 3 - -
By.Abbate - - 2 - - -
C.Holson 16 3 6 9 1 1
Bk.Abbate 1 - - 1 - -
ALBANY VS. HAWLEY
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 12 1 1 29 - 1
G.Price 6 1 - 13 - -
B.Kayga - - - - - -
C.Edgar 12 2 4 6 1 -
E.Webb - - 10 7 - -
A.Hale 23 6 4 21 1 28
C.Chapman 8 - 6 3 - -
By.Abbate - - - - 1 -
C.Holson 25 1 6 8 - -
Bk.Abbate - - - 11 - -
Junior Varsity
The Lady Lions JV teams concluded their schedules on Saturday.
The JV1 team lost both of its outings for the week, dropping a three-set match 22-25, 25-21, 10-15 at Coleman before falling 15-25, 12-25 to Hawley.
The JV2 team defeated Hawley 26-24, 25-18 in its only match of the week.
“We have had such a crazy season having to switch from one team to two teams so often, but the girls were troopers and did a great job going with the flow,” JV coach Jamie Wilson said. “There was so much improvement throughout the year from every athlete, and we are so excited for the future of Lady Lion volleyball."
