Lady Lions play in summer tournament
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions got an early start on volleyball season last weekend at the Jon Smith Memorial Tournament at AYSA in Abilene.
Next up is the first official practice at 7:30 a.m. Monday, July 31.
At the tournament, played Friday-Saturday, July 21-22, Albany finished third in its five-team pool before taking second place in the consolation bracket. Two Albany teams consisting of 18 players played a total of 12 matches.
“We got to play a lot of good competition,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. We played Antonian, a private school out of San Antonio, Wolfforth Frenship’s JV, and Odessa Permian. We got to see a bunch of big schools, and it was fun to compete.”
Reneau said a highlight of the weekend was a three-set match against perennial Class 2A power Wink, which Albany won 24-26, 26-24, 16-14.
“Three years ago, we beat them to go to state,” Reneau said. “Two years ago, they beat us in the regional semifinals and went to state. That was a fun match, and we’re still pretty evenly matched. Hopefully we’ll meet up again in the playoffs.”
Reneau said she decided to enter the tournament in lieu of holding a preseason camp as in past years.
“We saw some really good things,” she said. “Getting back on the court was fun. I think it was really good for the girls. It got them a lot of competition in just a couple of days.”
On Monday, Reneau will welcome six seniors for the first workout.
“The girls need to be here by 7:15 a.m. with shoes on and ready to go,” she said.
Players must have undergone a physical examination as we as have forms filled out and signed by both students and parents by the opening day of practice.
Albany will hold two workouts per day through Thursday, Aug. 3 – 7:30-9:30 a.m. and noon-2:00 p.m.
The Lady Lions will scrimmage Benjamin on Friday, Aug. 4 at home, then visit Breckenridge on Saturday, Aug. 5. Reneau said she is looking for another team to add to the home scrimmage.
The first match will be Tuesday, Aug. 8 at Breckenridge before the Lady Lions host their Albany Summer Slam tournament Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 10-12.
