Lady Lions bounce back, beat Woodson, Benjamin
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team split its two matches last week, losing at Abilene Christian on Tuesday, Aug. 30 and sweeping Woodson on Saturday, Sept. 3 at home.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, the Lady Lions (11-8) won 17-25, 28-26, 25-20, 25-16 at Benjamin. Details will be reported next week.
Albany will host Tolar on Saturday, Sept. 10, with JV2 starting at 10:00 a.m. JV1 and varsity will follow.
At Abilene Christian, the Lady Lions lost 11-25, 11-25, 22-25 in a rematch of their meeting in the semifinals of the Albany Summer Slam on Saturday, Aug. 13.
Kiana Roberson had five kills, and Abi Hale had seven assists. Hale led Albany with 16 digs, while Roberson had 12.
“After going over there and not winning, being able to respond and get the win Saturday was huge for us,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said following Saturday’s match. “I feel like we got better this week.”
The Lady Lions bounced back to sweep Woodson 25-8, 25-6, 25-13 in a match that was added after Water Valley dropped out.
“We were glad Woodson was able to come over and play us,” Reneau said. “We’ve had them in our district the past few years, and we didn’t think we’d get to play them this year.”
Albany enjoyed a strong service performance against Woodson, recording 28 aces, forcing the Cowgirls into 19 reception errors. Hale served 12 aces with Robin Lucas adding six and Caroline Holson five.
“We’ve been working a lot on spot serving during practice, serving deep, serving short, and the girls really executed that,” Reneau said. “We were being very aggressive. That was the plan.”
Roberson finished seven kills with Holson and Ella Webb adding five apiece. Hale made 18 assists, while Lucas and Roberson each had four digs.
The Lady Lions were able to vary their attacks, setting to the back row at times to counter Woodson’s block attempts.
“We were able to throw some girls into some different positions and get different looks,” Reneau said. “They all did well. That was another thing we did in practice during the week. We all played different positions.”
The first set saw Albany use a 10-2 run to turn a 4-2 lead into a 14-4 advantage. The lead reached 19-7 before Holson served out the last five points.
The Lady Lions controlled the second set from the start, going on an 18-0 run to lead 21-1. Woodson survived four set points before Albany closed it out.
In the third set, Albany led 4-3 before taking control with an 11-3 run. Woodson closed to six points, but Albany responded with a 9-3 finish with Holson knocking down the kill on match point.
The Lady Lions gained a bit of depth Saturday with the return of senior Gracie Price from injury. She recorded a kill, a dig, and two aces.
“Gracie didn’t get to play a whole lot because she hadn’t been able to practice,” Reneau said. “We’re glad to have her senior leadership back out there on the court.”
albany VS. ABILENE CHRISTIAN
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 6 - - 6 - -
C.Edgar 4 - - 2 1 -
E.Webb 1 - 1 - - -
A.Hale 11 3 1 16 - 7
C.Chapman 4 1 - 4 - -
By.Abbate - - 1 2 - -
C.Holson 11 3 2 7 - -
K.Roberson 6 1 5 12 - -
Bk.Abbate - - - 2 - -
albany VS. WOODSON
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 8 6 1 4 - -
G.Price 5 2 1 1 - -
C.Edgar 4 2 2 - - -
E.Webb 3 - 5 - - -
A.Hale 25 12 2 2 - 18
C.Chapman 5 1 - 2 - -
By.Abbate - - - - 1 -
C.Holson 11 5 5 3 - -
K.Roberson 6 - 7 4 1 -
Bk.Abbate - - - 2 - -
Junior Varsity
The JVI also split its matches last week, losing in three sets at Abilene Christian on Tuesday and sweeping Woodson 25-16, 25-19 on Saturday. JV1 is now 4-5 on the season.
The JV2 did not have a match last week for the second week in a row. The team’s last match was Aug. 19.
To give JV2 players more playing time and to add depth for JV1, several JV2 members suited up with JV1 the last two weeks.
“Our JV team numbers are smaller than usual, so when we do not have a JV2 game, we are moving some of those players up to help out our JV1,” JV coach Jamie Wilson said. “It also gets them some experience at a higher level. We feel it can only benefit both of our JV teams, and it gives our team more unity within itself.”
Junior High
Because of the Labor Day holiday, the Albany Junior High teams did not play Monday, Sept. 5.
Instead, the Lady Cubs will play Thursday, Sept. 8 (tonight) at Bangs. The seventh grade match will start at 5:00 p.m. with the eighth grade to follow.
The Lady Cubs resume Monday matches on Sept. 12 at home against Coleman before playing in the Hawley tournament on Saturday, Sept. 17.
