Staying Strong!
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team saw its winning streak come to a disappointing end last week, but wasted no time in starting a new one.
The Lady Lions (21-4) hosted Snyder on Tuesday, Sept. 12, winning 25-18, 25-9, 26-24. Details will be reported next week.
Albany has two matches remaining before the start of District 6-2A play. On Saturday, Sept. 16, the Lady
Lions visit De Leon with junior varsity starting at 10:00 a.m. The final nondistrict match is Tuesday, Sept. 19 at home against Strawn.
“We feel good about where we are,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “We still have some things to work on and fine tune before district gets here. I’m glad we have these games before district starts.”
On Tuesday, Sept. 5, the Lady Lions suffered their first loss in more than three weeks, falling 5-25, 17-25, 16-25 at Benjamin. On Friday, Sept. 8, Albany bounced back to sweep X•Academy 25-10, 25-9, 25-11 at home.
At Benjamin, the Lady Lions got off to a slow start and never recovered. Reneau said the setback is motivation to work harder as district looms.
“It’s good to see there are still things we need to work on,” she said. “We fell apart in that game, but it’s better to fall apart early than when it really matters later down the road.”
Kiana Roberson led the Lady Lions with eight kills, while Caroline Holson had two kills and a block. Abi Hale recorded 12 assists and Robin Lucas made five digs.
Against X Academy, Reneau employed a different rotation for each set, as Albany worked on correcting the issues that cost them against Benjamin.
“We were able to put people in positions they don’t normally play and give them a little practice,” the coach said. “If someone were to go down, who would step in to play that position next? We tried to make our lineup around that.”
Roberson had 16 kills with Holson adding four and a block. Hale, Caroline Chapman, and Braylyn Abbate each had three kills. Hale had 21 assists with Mimi Ivy adding 11.
Strong serving carried Albany in the first two sets. Holson served up the first eight points of the match and the last 10 of the first set after X Academy closed to within 14-10.
In the second set, Albany pulled away from a 2-2 tie as Chapman served up four points. Roberson followed with seven in a row to push the lead to 15-4.
X Academy led 4-0 in the third set before Albany rallied. Brooklyn Abbate served four consecutive points as the Lady Lions took the lead for good. A six-point run on Hale’s serve pushed the lead to 19-9 and Lucas served four in a row to reach match point.
Junior Varsity
The Lady Lions JV dropped a three-set match at Benjamin in its only outing of the week, falling 10-25, 25-21, 6-15.
“The girls fought hard, took the game into three sets, and unfortunately came up short,” JV coach Makinzie Tomascik said. “Although the game did not go as we hoped, we learned a lot and had a good week of practice to prepare for this week’s matches.”
ALBANY VS. BENJAMIN
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 1 0 0 5 0 0
E.Schedule 3 0 1 1 0 0
M.Ivy 3 0 1 1 0 0
A.Hale 4 0 0 3 0 12
C.Holson 8 1 2 3 1 0
K.Roberson 4 0 8 2 0 0
Bk.Abbate 6 1 0 0 0 0
ALBANY VS. X ACADEMY
PLAYER Serves Aces Kills Digs Blks Asst
R.Lucas 7 3 0 1 0 0
E.Schedule 2 0 2 0 0 0
C.Edgar 3 1 1 0 0 0
M.Ivy 3 1 1 0 0 11
A.Hale 3 0 3 0 0 21
C.Chapman 8 1 3 0 0 0
By.Abbate 0 0 3 0 0 0
C.Holson 22 3 4 0 1 1
K.Roberson 13 6 16 0 0 0
Bk.Abbate 7 3 0 1 0 0
