Lady Lions earn championship
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team capped a productive opening week of the season Saturday by claiming the Gold Bracket championship of their own Albany Summer Slam Tournament.
All three Albany teams beat Olney Tuesday, with the varsity winning their matches 25-14, 25-7, 25-17. Details will be reported next week.
The girls will host Eastland on Friday, with the varsity starting the action at 4:30 p.m.
The first district game is against Ranger at the local gym. on Tuesday, Aug. 24. The JV2 will start at 4:30 p.m.
Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said the team had to up its level of play to survive a long day of bracket play.
“We had tough time on Saturday,” Reneau said. “We won all three matches, but it took us three sets each time to do it. There was lots of good competition.”
Albany (6-0) began the season on Tuesday, Aug. 10,with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-15 victory at Breckenridge. The Lady Lions later defeated the Lady Buckaroos in the semifinals of the Summer Slam.
In Tuesday’s match, Sarah Cotter led Albany with 14 kills and two blocks. Clara Holson recorded 17 assists and shared the team lead in digs with Robin Lucas and Tristen Brown with six apiece. Brown added six kills. Cotter, Brown, Gracie Price and Ansleigh Garcia each had two service aces.
“I’m so excited about this first win of the season,” Reneau said. “The girls played well together, and their chemistry shows on the court, which is exciting to see this early in the season. We did a good job of turning every possession into an attack and served very well.”
albany VS. Breckenridge
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R. Lucas 8 - - 6 - -
G. Price 6 2 - 3 - -
A. Garcia 15 2 - 5 - 1
S. Cotter 10 2 14 4 2 -
C. Holson 12 1 1 6 - 17
P. Green 1 1 - - - -
A. Holson - - - 2 1 -
T. Brown 11 2 6 6 - -
K. Roberson 1 1 1 - 1 -
Albany swept Pool A of the Summer Slam on Thursday, Aug. 12, by beating Lingleville 25-8, 25-16 and Bangs 25-12, 25-13.
albany VS. LINGLEVILLE
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R. Lucas 13 2 - - - -
G. Price - - - 1 - -
A. Garcia 11 3 1 2 - -
S. Cotter 1 - 11 5 1 -
C. Holson 10 2 - 4 - 17
L. Chavez 3 1 - 1 - -
P. Green 2 - - 1 - -
A. Holson - - 1 1 - -
T. Brown 2 2 5 - - -
K. Roberson 2 - 2 1 - -
“I felt that the girls dominated the net and ran a quick offense,” Reneau said of Thursday’s play. “It was hard for Lingleville and Bangs to set up their offense because we kept them out of system. Our back row players also did a good job in serve receive, giving us the opportunity to attack on most possessions.”
albany VS. BANGS
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R. Lucas 8 1 - 3 - -
G. Price 2 1 - - - -
A. Garcia 7 1 2 1 - -
S. Cotter 10 3 12 1 - -
C. Holson 7 3 - 4 - 18
L. Chavez - - - 1 - -
P. Green 2 - - - - -
S. Cormack - - 1 - - -
A. Holson - - 3 - - -
T. Brown 5 1 1 2 - -
K. Roberson - - 5 - 1 -
On Saturday, Albany beat De Leon 25-15,11-25, 15-7 in the quarterfinals, Breckenridge 18-25, 25-16, 20-18 in the semifinals and Jim Ned 25-22, 18-25, 15-11 for the championship.
albany VS. DELEON
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R. Lucas 11 1 - 6 - -
G. Price 6 2 - 1 - -
A. Garcia 16 1 - 7 - 1
S. Cotter 2 - 12 8 1 -
C. Holson 3 1 - 4 - 14
L. Chavez 1 - - - - -
P. Green - - - - - -
A. Holson - - - 2 - -
T. Brown 4 1 7 6 - -
K. Roberson - - 2 - - -
“It was a great weekend of volleyball for us,” Reneau said. “We were put in a lot of different, hard situations and were able to come out on top. The girls worked hard and were very coachable.”
albany VS. Breckenridge
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R. Lucas 13 1 - 3 - -
G. Price 2 - - 2 - -
A. Garcia 13 2 1 8 - -
S. Cotter 8 - 15 9 4 -
C. Holson 8 - 2 4 - 21
L. Chavez 3 - - 6 - -
P. Green 2 - - 1 - -
A. Holson 3 - 5 1 - -
T. Brown 4 1 6 8 - 1
K. Roberson - - 2 2 1 -
“We led Breckenridge 14-11 (in the third set) and ended up winning 20-18,” Reneau said. “It was our game point, it was their game point and the girls came through when it counted.”
albany VS. JIM NED
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R. Lucas 13 1 - 9 - -
G. Price 12 1 - 1 - -
A. Garcia 12 - 1 2 - -
S. Cotter 3 1 12 6 3 -
C. Holson 6 - 3 10 - 15
S. Cormack - - 1 2 - -
A. Holson - - 2 - 1
T. Brown 4 2 4 6 - -
K. Roberson - - 2 1 - -
“The championship match took a lot of grit,” Reneau said. “The girls had long matches prior to the championship. It took everyone we had to get the win and I really saw the girls come together as a team.”
Reneau said having all three Saturday matches go three sets will benefit the Lady Lions as the season progresses.
“The more touches, the better,” she said. “It was good to see different situations early and be put in high-pressure situations where they were on game point. A lot of lessons were learned and we came out on top, which was even better.”
Junior Varsity
The Lady Lions JV teams also had a busy week, opening the season at Breckenridge before each played three matches Friday at the Summer Slam.
The JV1 team went 3-1, dropping its opener 26-24, 25-21 to Breckenridge before beating Clyde 25-18, 18-25, 15-13, Olney 25-13, 26-24 and De Leon 25-13, 26-24.
“Breckenridge was a tough first match,” coach Jamie Wilson said. “We saw a lot of great things as we continue improving at the beginning of the season. “Clyde was a great game to watch, very exciting. I loved how the girls fought all the way to the end to win it.”
She added that the final game against DeLeon was a great way to end the tournament.
“They had to fight all the way to the last point,” she said. “The girls did a great job all day fighting and getting three wins.”
The JV2 team lost 25-17, 25-16 at Breckenridge, beat Lingleville 25-6, 25-15 to start Friday, then lost 25-12, 25-15 to Hawley and 25-14, 25-16 to Eastland.
“There was lots of improvement shown in our first game of the season,” Wilson said. “I’m looking forward to what this team has to show.”
The coach said that the girls did a great job talking and moving on the court, especially against Lingleville.
“The girls struggled with serve receive against Hawley, but we improved on talking throughout the match,” said Wilson.
“There were good things I saw and other things that we need to work on” she said. “Overall, it was a great tournament for the JV2.”
