Lady Lions to host Summer Slam tourney
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions began their volleyball season Tuesday evening at Breckenridge after a weekend of scrimmages. Now, the Lady Lions face another busy weekend as they host their Summer Slam tournament.
The local girls won their opener against Breckenridge Tuesday night 25-23, 25-22, 25-15. Details will be reported next week.
Albany played four scrimmages last week, taking on Benjamin and Lingleville on Friday and Mineral Wells and Paradise on Saturday.
“We won three out of four, losing to Paradise,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “They were a really good defensive team.“
Reneau said the Albany team enjoyed success with its attack during its first outings against outside competition.
“It really showed me what our hitters could do this early in the season,” she said. “We were hitting spots on the different sides of the floor. It was fun to watch. We already look like we have good chemistry.”
Reneau said the first week of practice focused on putting the lineup together.
“We’ve been looking at different girls in different rotations,” she said. “We have some girls playing back row this year that didn’t play back row last year. We’re trying to get them used to the different spots and seeing where our best fit is.”
Reneau said she was particularly pleased with the way team chemistry developed through the first week. While she liked the overall progress the team has made, the scrimmages highlighted which areas need work.
“We need a little more practice on our blocking and our serve receive,” she said. “For it to be so early and only have four practices, I think it’s going to be a good season.”
The 12-team Summer Slam was to get under way at 9:00 a.m. Thursday with pool play. Albany is competing in Pool A against Bangs and Lingleville.
The rest of the tournament field has Breckenridge, Abilene Christian, and Moran in Pool B, Bronte, DeLeon, and Ranger in
Pool C and Jim Ned, Eastland and Coleman in Pool D.
The top two teams in each pool will compete in the Gold Bracket with the other four teams placed in the Silver Bracket.
Reneau said the tournament will allow her a chance to see how the team responds in different situations.
“After the scrimmages, we have our lineups ready,” she said. “We’re looking at rotations. Now, we’re ready to see how we compete.”
She commented that Breckenridge would be a good first game for the local girls, and then they will have a long weekend of volleyball with tournament play.
The Lady Lions face another tournament weekend Aug. 26-28 at Nocona.
Reneau said frontloading the schedule with so many matches will help the team be better prepared for the start of District 6-2A play on Aug. 31.
“I keep telling the girls it’s a hard week, but it’s what we need,” Reneau said. “We need to be tired now so we’re not tired in a game. We need to knock all the rust off from the summer.”
She added that playing a tough preseason prepares the girls for district.
Heading into the first week of competition, Reneau is optimistic about the Lady Lions’ chances for a successful season.
“We have a solid group of four returners from the varsity and with six seniors, we’ve got an impressive group of leaders,” she said. “We’ve got to stay focused and see if we can get back to the state tournament.”
