Lovelady Volleyball 2016
Lovelady Volleyball Faces Tough Road to Postseason
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
LOVELADY – “The thing with volleyball is it’s a quick game that’s team oriented. You can have two or three stars in basketball and go a long way. You can have a pitcher, catcher and two or three really good outfielders and you can go a long way in baseball or softball. In volleyball, if you don’t have six strong players, the other team is going to find that one and you’re going to be in trouble,” Lovelady Volleyball Coach James Price explained.
The longtime Lady Lions coach reported, “I have four seniors coming back and that’s it. I have Sydney Price, Malanta Wiley, Emily McClure and Kaitlin Pomeroy. Tatyana Bowlin is also a senior and she’s moving up from JV. I don’t have any juniors who were on the varsity last year but Brittany McDonald, Miranda Moore and Katie Robertson are also moving up from JV. As far as sophomores, we have Jamie Mora and Haley Pitts. I also have a couple of freshmen on varsity with Jamie Welch and Kaiden LaMaire.
As the team looks toward district, Coach Price was asked which opponent he looked forward to playing the most. “I can’t pick one. You’re talking about one of the strongest 2A volleyball districts in the state of Texas. It’s not that I’m afraid of any of them, but we just take them one at a time. Yeah, I know that’s cliché, but I never look at the district and say, ‘OK. This is the one.’ In this district, it’s ‘OK. Who’s next? That’s the one.’”
“Our goal this year,” he added, “is to take care of our own place and if we can sneak a win here or there on the road, I think that will give us a real good shot at making the playoffs.”
Price went on to say, “This could be one of the better teams I’ve had in a long time and we’re going to be scrapping to barely make the playoffs. In this district, you have a true seven teams fighting for four playoff spots. It would not shock me in the least if it came down to the last week of district and everyone was still in it saying, ‘We’ve got a shot.’ There’s no telling. It may come down, and I hope it doesn’t, to someone having a disastrous injury or it may come down to who gets on that hot streak at the right time.”
HOW I SEE IT: The Lady Lions are in an eight team district and have two perennial contenders to deal with in Centerville and Iola. Expect Iola and Centerville to finish first and second in District 22-2A. The battle for third and fourth will be intense as Normangee looks to return to the playoffs while North Zulch moves up from 1A where they reached last year’s state tournament.
The Lady Lions appear to have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs, but it will be tough. They have great athletes and will battle all season long but they may not have enough to get past the pre-season favorites. Having said that, however, look for the Grapeland Sandiettes, the Lovelady Lady Lions, the Normangee Lady Panthers and the North Zulch Lady Bulldogs to battle it out for the third and fourth playoff spots out of District 22-2A.
It’s hard to pick against a team that went to state and only lost two key contributors. Even though they moved up in classification, look for the North Zulch Lady Bulldogs to take the number three seed out of District 22-2A.
Normangee loses a lot from last year’s team, but several of their underclassmen showed they can step in to fill the gaps. Expect the Lady Panthers to take the number four seed out of District 22-2A.
The silver lining to this cloud for the four Houston County teams (Grapeland, Kennard, Latexo and Lovelady) teams is Iola, Centerville, North Zulch and Normangee will beat up on each other throughout the season. If those teams slip up and lose a match or two they’re expected to win, you may see one of the Houston County teams slip into the postseason from the four hole.
