Lady Lions continue winning streak
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions didn’t let an open date disrupt their momentum last week, sweeping Coleman in their only outing of the week to push their winning streak to eight.
The Lady Lions (19-7 overall, 3-0 District 6-2A) then won 25-19, 26-24, 25-16 over Hawley on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Details will be reported next week.
Albany wraps up the first half of the district schedule Saturday, Oct. 8, at home against Ranger. The JV1 will play at 10:00 a.m. with the varsity to follow. Saturday will be Albany’s Pinkout Day for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
On Saturday, Oct. 1, Albany defeated Coleman 25-13, 25-17, 25-17 at home after having the district bye on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau was pleased with the team’s intensity following the open date.
“I like to have an open date just so they get a little bit of rest,” Reneau said. “We didn’t have a football game last week, so my cheerleaders (Gracie Price, Brooke Kayga, Ella Webb, and Caroline Chapman) got to rest, too. I was proud that they didn’t drop their level of play any and that they came out ready to play.”
Kiana Roberson and Caroline Chapman each had nine kills with Roberson adding two blocks. Both controlled the net, forcing Coleman attackers to change course on multiple occasions.
“We worked a lot on different things with our middle blockers during the week,” Reneau said. “I think we saw that pay off in the match.”
Abi Hale had 24 assists, while Robin Lucas had 12 digs and Price had 11.
The first set saw six ties and three lead changes before Albany took control with a 12-1 run to go up 19-10.
“We got off to a little bit of a slow start,” Reneau said. “We missed too many serves. I’d like to see us start stronger, but overall I thought we did great.”
The second set was tied 4-4 before the Lady Lions slowly pulled away. A 9-1 run resulted in a 21-10 lead.
In the third set, Albany took the lead for good at 2-1 on a kill by Roberson during a five-point run.
Reneau said such runs were the key to the match.
“When our girls get back there to serve, their goal is to serve five points every single time so we can spread and get the lead early,” she said.
ALBANY VS. COLEMAN
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 11 1 1 12 - -
G.Price 14 2 - 11 - -
C.Edgar - - 1 5 - -
E.Webb 1 - 3 1 - -
A.Hale 13 4 3 7 - 24
C.Chapman 8 2 1 2 - -
C.Holson 16 5 9 6 - -
K.Roberson 3 - 9 8 2 -
Bk.Abbate - - - 1 - -
Junior Varsity
Both Albany JV teams got a match last week with JV2 playing for the first time since Aug. 17.
On Tuesday, Sept. 27, JV2 swept Woodson 25-11, 25-12 at Woodson.
On Saturday, JV1’s comeback bid fell short in a 22-25, 25-12, 24-26 loss to Coleman at home.
“The JV is doing a great job improving every game and taking each match one set at a time,” coach Jamie Wilson said. “JV2 did a good job finishing on Tuesday, and JV1 had a great comeback on Saturday but couldn’t quite pull out the win.”
On Saturday, JV1 fell behind 5-17 and faced set point at 11-24. Kaisley Bartee then served 11 consecutive points before Coleman could end the set.
Albany kept the momentum going in the second set, opening up a 16-3 lead.
In the third set, Albany led most of the way until Coleman rallied to tie at 17-17, setting up a finish that saw five ties and three lead changes over the final 16 points.
