Lady Lions stay in district driver’s seat

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions found themselves in an unusual situation Saturday, having to come from behind to defeat Strawn in District 6-2A volleyball action at Strawn.

The Lady Lions rallied to defeat the Lady Greyhounds in four sets to improve to 22-3 overall. 

“We are now officially halfway through district,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “We finished the first half undefeated, and that’s the goal for the second half.”

The Lady Lions are ranked No. 10 in the latest polls by the Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 2A rankings, with Strawn at No. 23.

Albany was scheduled to have all its volleyball teams in action on the road Tuesday with varsity, JV1, and eighth grade teams playing at Ranger, while the JV2 and seventh grade visited Woodson. 

The varsity girls won 25-8, 25-9, 25-11. Details will be reported in next week’s paper.

Reneau announced two schedule changes for late October. On Oct. 23, the JV1 will play at Rising Star, while the varsity and JV2 play Hico at home. Also, Reneau has scheduled a playoff warmup for Oct. 30 at Tolar.

Saturday’s victory capped another 2-0 week for the Lady Lions varsity. Albany started on Sept. 21 by beating Rising Star 25-8,25-4, 25-4 on the road. On Saturday, the Lady Lions defeated Strawn 23-25, 25-12, 25-22, 25-17.

“Strawn has some very strong hitters, and it was a battle at the net,” Reneau said. “We tried to turn every opportunity into an attack and kept them backed up on defense. Everyone on the team contributed to the win.”

albany VS. RISING STAR

PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst

R. Lucas 17 10 - - - -

A. Garcia 16 4 2 1 - -

S. Cotter 2 2 9 3 - 1

C. Holson 17 8 2 2 - 16

L. Chavez 1 - - - - -

S. Cormack - - - - - 1

A. Holson - - 1 - - -

T. Brown 12 8 6 - - -

K. Roberson 2 1 5 2 - -

albany VS. STRAWN

PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst

R. Lucas 18 4 - 9 - -

G. Price 5 1 - 7 - -

A. Garcia 20 7 2 10 - -

S. Cotter 20 4 25 9 - -

C. Holson 15 2 - 8 - 39

L. Chavez - - - 2 - -

P. Green 1 - - 2 - -

S. Cormack - - 2 - - -

A. Holson - - 3 2 - -

T. Brown 10 3 8 5 - -

K. Roberson - - 6 - - -

Junior Varsity

The JV1 team improved to 11-5 overall Saturday by defeating Strawn 25-11, 25-13 in Albany’s only junior varsity match of the week.

“We had to change things up for this game because of players being gone,” coach Jamie Wilson said. “The girls had fun being in random spots and getting to play in ways they don’t usually get to do. We had some great serve receive and some very good serves.”