All five local volleyball teams got to show off for fans on Tuesday night at Hal Henard Gymnasium in the Greene County Play Day.
The regular season does not start until next week, but on Tuesday Chuckey-Doak, Greeneville, North Greene, South Greene and West Greene each played in four 30-minutes scrimmages against their cross-county rivals. All five teams saw things that have them excited for the upcoming season, but they all know there is room for improvement as they try make deep postseason runs.
“This is a really good event, my only negative is that I wish we could have played longer,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “It was good to get out here in front of the fans and get a chance to see everybody in the county. It seems like everybody was fired up and every game meant something to each team. I think this is a great thing that we’ve started and I hope we continue to do it.”
South Greene has advanced to the state tournament for 16 straight season and with a senior laden roster the Lady Rebels are hopeful about making another trip to Murfreesboro in October.
“We’ll go home and reflect and see where we need to improve. We had some weaknesses exposed today, and we’ll have to go back to practice tomorrow and work on them,” Gregg said. “We can learn more about ourselves from an event like this than we could in practice. We have a lot of seniors who we expect more out of this year. I’m trying to create an atmosphere of competition, and we are playing a lot of girls right now. I want them pushing each other as the year goes on.”
Where the Lady Rebels return much of their experience is on the back row where Whitney Reaves, Keasley Hankins, Ella Bailey, and Addisyn Broyles all saw plenty of playing time a year ago.
On Tuesday South Greene showed off some new hitters who both provided plenty of highlights in freshman Emma Padgett and senior Kortnei Bailey, who returns to the lineup after stepping away last year. After losing All-State hitter Davanie Tarlton the Lady Rebels are looking to rebuild their attack this season
Greeneville coach Sara Aiken, who hosted the event, loved the competitiveness she not only saw from her team, but from the whole event. Many times in scrimmages and jamborees players just go through the motions with nothing really on the line, but on Tuesday all five squads were battling for points and beating their rivals mattered.
“I told the girls that I am super proud of them because they did the things that we have been working on. We made comebacks in competitive matches and finished tight matches,” Aiken said. “For every team in here to be competing at a high level is so great to see. It makes me smile to see high school volleyball be this promising.”
Greeneville enters the year with a deep roster and on Tuesday Aiken used a plethora on combinations, trying to find the pairings that work best together. She came away pleased with how many of them played well, and her biggest challenge this year may be deciding who gets on the floor during crunch time.
“We are trying to find that setter-attacker chemistry. We need to know who works good with who and who has that chemistry. We’re blessed because we have positions filled deeply, but that also makes my job harder because they are all good,” Aiken said. “Every varsity player can contribute, and we have worked really hard on being good teammates. There will be times where someone has an off day, and they will have to be on the bench. That is part of the game, and they have to understand that this is a game of errors and sometimes its somebody else’s night.”
The Lady Devils have a pair of strong leaders they rely on in seniors Manning Click and Emma Shelton who were elected captains, but with 11 sophomores who all played on Tuesday the future is bright for the Lady Devils. Among those are big hitters Leah Ford, Natalie Knight and Gabby Atchison along with back-row players Willow Aiken and Allison Hayes.
Chuckey-Doak coach Marrisa Snapp has spent a lot of the past two season trying to get her team to mesh and play as a cohesive unit, and after Tuesday she feels like she is seeing signs that her team is coming together.
“I am extremely proud of these girls,” Snapp said. “We have spent so much time over the last two years focusing on our fundamentals. It’s about connection, trusting each other and trusting each other’s capabilities. I was extremely proud to see that connection today.”
The Lady Black Knights have plenty of experience returning to the floor, including Addy Pruitt, Belle Karricker, Jacey Taylor, Cristen Bishop and Carlene Bishop. On Tuesday Snapp was most impressed with the intensity in which her team competed during the scrimmage.
“It’s amazing to this see level of competitiveness,” Snapp said. “That is what we want in preseason games. We want to be pushed right now. This allows us to see our weaknesses and let us know where we need to work.”
West Greene coach Raven Borie liked that her team got better as the day went on in their first competition of the preseason.
“This is our first scrimmage and it was a little rocky in the beginning, but I think once we got acclimated to playing another team we played a lot better,” Borie said. “We still have room for improvement but overall it was a good day. This can be an intimidating environment with everybody here, and I just wanted them focus on being mentally tough. It took some time get focused, but as the day went on that got better.”
A year ago the Lady Buffaloes finished as Region 1-A runner up and advanced to the state sectionals for the first time in nearly two decades. District 1-A Player of the Year Cassidy Hill is back as well as some key contributors like Aleea Aiken, Journey Lamons, Addison Peters and Aubree Everett.
“I feel like we have a pretty strong senior group, and they have shown good leadership,” Borie said. “Our theme this year has been ‘we not me’, and they have embraced that. Today we mixed up the lineup and as we got deep in sets we subbed girls in. They are doing a good job of handling that, not being discouraged when they come out and encouraging their teammates from the bench.”
North Greene lost much of its starting lineup from a year ago, and coach Emaline Erwin brings a young team into this season. Despite their youth the Lady Huskies are talented and could do big things late in the year with some growth.
“We are a new team with only a couple of starters back,” Erwin said. “We only have one senior and a bunch of sophomores. This is a group that can get better as the year goes on and I’m hopeful we can have a good season. They have gotten so much better over the offseason. They are much more confident out there, and that is something we really needed.”
Senior Matti Phillips is the most veteran player in the lineup and will be counted on to lead the group. On the front row sophomores Kallie Dobson, Josie Graham and Cadie McDevitt all showed off big swings, and newcomer Traylyn Southerland was an effective passer.
The regular season will begin on Monday with Chuckey-Doak taking on West Greene, North Greene facing Washburn and Greeneville playing Science Hill. South Greene will open the season on Tuesday in a tri-match with Greeneville and Tennessee High.
