Lady Lions to host tournament this week
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team looked to up their game as the regular season got underway this week.
The Lady Lions opened the season Tuesday, Aug. 9 at home against Breckenridge, winning the first match but eventually losing a very close game. Details will be reported next week.
Albany will wrap up the week by hosting its annual Summer Slam tournament. The varsity portion begins Thursday, Aug. 11 (today), with varsity pool matches. After junior varsity teams play Friday, Aug. 12, varsity teams return for bracket play on Saturday, Aug. 13.
“We have eight teams coming,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “We lost some of our usual participants because of realignment. Some of the 2A teams that used to come have gone a different direction because they’re in our district now.”
The varsity field will have De Leon, Eastland and Rotan in Pool A with Albany, while Abilene Christian, Breckenridge, Bronte, and Jim Ned JV play in Pool B. Saturday’s bracket will be based on pool results.
On Friday, 12 JV teams will each play three pool matches. Albany’s JV1 will play matches against De Leon, Eastland, and Knox City. The JV2 will face Coleman, Clyde, and Eastland. Other JV teams competing will be Abilene Christian, Breckenridge, Hawley, Bronte, and Jim Ned. Albany is one of five schools with two JV entered.
Reneau said the Lady Lions were prepared for this week by its one week of preseason practices and scrimmages.
“That first week of practice is just trying to get back in the groove of things, conditioning, getting as many touches as we can during practice, trying to knock the rust off that we may have from the summer,” she said. “The scrimmages were to get us on the court and get comfortable playing before it actually counts. We were able to look at a few different lineups, put girls in positions they might play during the year.”
On Friday, Aug. 5, Albany hosted a three-team scrimmage with Benjamin and Breckenridge. On Saturday, Aug. 6, the Lady Lions visited Breckenridge to take on the Lady Buckaroos and Paradise.
Scores and statistics for the scrimmages were not kept.
“Really, we wanted some competition instead of practicing against ourselves,” Reneau said. “I thought everyone played pretty well. We just have to swing harder.”
Reneau said the main benefit was getting back into the flow of play.
“We had to get back to in-system and out-of-system play, and figure out what our strengths and weaknesses were before our first real game,” she said.
Now comes refining rosters and lineups.
“We were able to make three teams,” she said. “Everyone’s going to get a lot of playing time this year.”
