Let’s get it started
- Updated: August 20, 2021
Area volleyball teams get underway; Donoho, Jacksonville win openers, Alexandria, Ohatchee split; White Plains, Munford debut new coaches
THURSDAY SCORES
Alexandria 2, Oxford 0 (25-21, 25-16)
Donoho 3, Weaver 0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-10)
Jacksonville 3, Sylacauga 0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-21)
Lawrence County 2, Alexandria 0 (25-12, 25-17)
Lawrence County 2, Oxford 1 (25-15, 18-25, 15-8)
Munford 3, Winterboro 0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23)
Ohatchee 2, Pell City 0 (25-18, 25-20)
Southside 2, Ohatchee 0 (25-17, 25-18)
Spring Garden 3, White Plains 0 (25-6, 25-5, 25-21)
Wellborn 2, Glencoe 1
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
There will be a lot of teams Donoho’s volleyball team will beat this season on ability and experience alone. The rest maybe it can confuse into submission.
The Lady Falcons opened their season Thursday night with a 3-0 home victory over Weaver (25-15, 25-15, 25-10).
Most of the people in the gym – the Lady Bearcats included – looked a tad confused when Donoho remained on the floor after the second set looking for more. Considering the junior high and junior varsity teams played before the main event and this wasn’t an area match most were expecting a best 2-of-3 exercise.
Not so fast.
“Every varsity match, a single on a night, is supposed to be three out of five,” Donoho coach Jamie Clendenin said. “As long as you play a single varsity match.”
It did take the Lady Bearcats a little while to get their bearings in the third set and Donoho jumped out with its most impressive stretch of the night, opening leads of 8-1 and 13-2.
“We started better in the first two sets, for sure,” Weaver coach Chelsea Mize said. “I think that threw us off a little bit. I guess I wasn’t expecting that.”
Clendenin, meanwhile, was expecting a little more from his team. The Lady Falcons were slow out of the gate, falling behind 7-5 in the first set and only began pulling away after Weaver got within 11-10. It was 17-13 and they scored seven straight points to put the set away.
“I thought we were very sloppy,” Clendenin said. “I thought the other team did a good job of getting a lot of balls up and they played us pretty tough early on, but I guess my expectations are a little bit bigger since we’ve lost one player each of the last two years (from a state champion and runner-up) so we’re pretty much working with the same team. We should be able to connect a little better than that, have better communication.
“Usually we start off with a tournament, so this is a little different. There’s not a lot of energy in the gym when you’re playing a single court either, so that doesn’t make it any easier. I think they played decent. Did you think that was even close to as good as we could play?”
The Lady Falcons, who dedicated the win to quarantined Mercy Mangum, were led by Lily Grace Draper’s nine kills, Naira Rehman’s 20 digs and three aces, and Sam Wakefield’s 24 assists. Rehman attended a specialty libero camp at the University of Florida this summer where she picked up valuable experience and insight.
“I think we’re really grateful to be able to play again, honestly, with all this COVID stuff going around,” Rehman said. “Just being on the court and playing, this is our last year, we’re just really grateful and excited to keep playing – for however long that is.
“We just want to make it to the finals; that’s just our personal goal. We just want to be able to play all the games that we can to the end. Tonight, it could’ve been better. You’re never going to play your best at the beginning of the season and if this was our best game I would be disappointed.”
Weaver got three kills and an ace from Madison Atchley and six assists from Kynlee Fulmer.
“I think we have potential, we just have to work a little bit more,” Mize said. “We haven’t had a ton of practice.”
DONOHO 3, WEAVER 0
(25-15, 25-15, 25-10)
KILLS –Donoho: Maggie Wakefield 6, Lily Grace Draper 9, Estella Connell 2, Mary Marshall Perry 5, Yana Osovska 4; Weaver: Madison Atchley 3, Kynlee Fulmer 1, Americus Conner 2, TiAna Lawrence 1, Hannah Hise 1, Mollie Kirby 2.
ASSISTS – Donoho: Sam Wakefield 24, Maggie Wakefield 1; Weaver: Madison Atchley 1, Kynlee Fulmer 6, Americus Conner 1, TiAna Lawrence 1.
ACES –Donoho: Maggie Wakefield 1, Mary Marshall Perry 3, Sam Wakefield 3, Naira Rehman 3, Hannah Sprayberry 1; Weaver: Madison Atchley 1.
DIGS –Donoho: Sam Wakefield 3, Naira Rehman 20, Ayesha Siddiqua 1, Maggie Wakefield 11, Lily Grace Draper 5, Mary Marshall Perry 1, Estella Connell 1, Yana Osovska 5, Hannah Sprayberry 2, Anastasiya Budrevich 1; Weaver: Madison Atchley 2, Kynlee Fulmer 1, Sydney Bitzer 1, Americus Conner 2, TiAna Lawrence 1, Neveah Hawkins 2, Mollie Kirby 1.
BLOCKS – Donoho: Maggie Wakefield 1, Estella Connell 2, Mary Marshall Perry 1.
Challenging start
Alexandria and Oxford didn’t soft pedal their way into the season, opening in a tri-match that also included Lawrence County.
The Lady Cubs split, falling to Lawrence County 25-12, 25-17; and bouncing back to beat Oxford, 25-21, 25-16. The Lady Jackets lost to Lawrence County 25-15, 18-25, 15-8.
“It’s the roughest start I’ve been a part of in a while,” Alexandria coach Whitney Welch said of the opening match. “We have a lot of potential but we got outplayed and made 32 unforced errors. Sometimes I’m mad at myself for (scheduling tough), but it’ll be worth it in the long run. We will get better.”
The Lady Cubs got nine kills from Lexi Weber and 15 assists from Crossley Sparks in the Oxford match, four kills from Weber, 10 assists from Sparks and six digs from Kandyn Blankenship against Lawrence County.
Oxford got 16 kills and eight digs from Abbie Mitchell in its two matches; 14 digs and three aces from Ashely Paulson; and three kills, six digs and 23 assists from Adrionna Foster.
LAWRENCE COUNTY 2, ALEXANDRIA 0
(25-12, 25-17)
(Alexandria stats)
KILLS – Kailey Dickerson 1, Kandyn Blankenship 1, Blakeley Mobbs 3, Lexi Weber 4, Crossley Sparks 1, Brie Troup 1.
ASSISTS – Kailey Dickerson 1, Crossley Sparks 10.
ACES – Abby Prichard 1.
DIGS – Kailey Dickerson 2, Kandyn Blankenship 6, Blakeley Mobbs 3, Crossley Sparks 2, Devan White 3, Ava Johnson 4.
BLOCKS – Lexi Weber 1, Crossley Sparks 2, Brie Troup 1,
ALEXANDRIA 2, OXFORD 0
(25-21, 25-16)
(Alexandria stats)
KILLS – Kailey Dickerrson 3, Kandyn Blankenship 2, Blakeley Mobbs 2, Lexi Weber 9, Crossley Sparks 1, Ava Johnson 1.
ASSISTS – Crossley Sparks 15, Devan White 1.
ACES – Kailey Dickerson 1, Kandyn Blankenship 1, Crossley Sparks 2, Devan White 2.
DIGS – Kandyn Blankenship 1, Blakeley Mobbs 1, Crossley Sparks 2, Devan White 2, Ava Johnson 1.
BLOCKS – Blakeley Mobbs 1, Lexi Weber 1.
LAWRENCE COUNTY 2, OXFORD 1
(25-15, 18-25, 15-8)
ALEXANDRIA 2, OXFORD 0
(25-21, 25-16)
(Oxford two-match totals)
KILLS – Kara King 5, Adrionna Foster 3, Abbie Mitchell 16, Mileah Prince 7, Shay Montgomery 6.
ASSISTS – Adrionna Foster 23.
ACES – Cohlee Boone 2, Ashely Paulson 3.
DIGS – Kara King 3, Cohlee Boone 13, Adrionna Foster 6, Ashely Paulson 14, Abbie Mitchell 8.
BLOCKS – Shay Montgomery 2.
Starting off strong
Caitlin Clark scored 16 kills 12 digs, Aly Harris had 16 kills and five aces, and Molly Wilson and Abby Wilczek combined for 29 assists as Jacksonville opened its season with a 3-0 victory over Sylacauga (25-16, 25-14, 25-21). The Golden Eagles return to action Saturday in their Carostrong Tournament.
JACKSONVILLE 3, SYLACAUGA 0
(25-16, 25-14, 25-21)
(Jacksonville stats)
KILLS – Molly Wilson 2, Caitlin Clark 16, Aly Hais 16, Chloe Fuller 2, Camryn Stone 2..
ASSISTS – Molly Wilson 19, Abby Wilczek 10, Tori Moses 2.
ACES – Abby Wilczek 2, Aly Harris 5.
DIGS – Abby Wilczek 3, Caitlin Clark 12, Aly Harris 4, Chloe Fuller 2, Tori Moses 9, Natalie Patterson 1..
BLOCKS – Caitlin Clark 1, Aly Haris 3, Chloe Fuller 1, Camryn Stone 3.
Back at it
After the way its season ended last year, denied a chance at postseason glory by COVID quarantine right before the area tournament, the Ohatchee volleyball team was eager to get back on the floor.
The Lady Indians opened their season with a tri-match split, falling to Southside in their season-opener 2-0 (25-17, 25-18) and then sweeping Pell City 2-0 (25-18, 25-20).
“You could tell we were a little rusty and had some first game jitters,” said acting coach Kendall Poe, taking the team while head coach Rebecca Hughes recovers from post-pregnancy heart surgery. “We did some things really well, but we definitely saw what we needed to work on. When we played Pell City, we finally calmed down and started playing our ball and executing.”
The Lady Indians’ varsity was hit with a COVID quarantine on the eve of their area tournament last year. They played in the tournament with a junior varsity team in hopes advancing, but fell in their semifinal match.
“It’s still in the back on their minds that they have unfinished business from last year,” Poe said. “We have a very competitive area again so we are just taking one game at a time trying to make sure we are prepared for each team we face.”
Coaching debuts
White Plains’ Bradley Dawson and Munford’s Destinee Briskey sent their new teams on the floor for the first time with mixed results.
White Plains fell to Spring Garden 3-0 (25-6, 25-5, 25-21), while Munford swept Winterboro 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23).
White Plains got five kills from Kassidy Ledbetter and three from Isabella Higgins. Munford was led by Ellie Rose Jones’ eight kills and two aces. Kirsten Rogers had 23 assists and five aces. Kaylyn Turner-Henderson had six kills and four blocks. Mekiah Mosley had eight aces.
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