CALEDONIA — The promise is there.
Cara Hopper and Sarah Freeman saw glimpses of it last season. They have seen it in the preseason workouts and in the Caledonia High School volleyball team’s first practices of the 2012 season.
Now the trick is to turn that potential into action.
“We have to work together as a team,” Freeman said. “Last year, one of the things that got us down in the second round (of the playoffs) is when we got there and they were all big and they all hit well and we kind of let it get into our heads. We just need to have a good positive attitude.”
Caledonia went 17-8 last season and lost to Lewisburg 3-0 in the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1 playoffs. Caledonia swept Aberdeen 3-0 in the first round.
With the loss of seniors Stevi Carter and Ashley Langford from the 2011 team, coach Samantha Brooks feels the 2012 Lady Confederates have the potential to build on their success. The biggest difference is that the team will move to a 6-2 formation that features two setters. Junior Morgan Smith, who played the position last season, and junior Elisha Collins, who was a front-row player in 2011, are among the players competing for playing time at setter.
“Luckily, the girls are versatile enough and we’re going to try a different offense,” Brooks said. “Elisha has been playing forever, since seventh grade and has really shown an interest in setting. She has great hands and she wants to do it. Morgan is really excited about it because her vertical has really improved. She is getting up and slamming the ball now. I think she always wanted that opportunity (to hit).”
Caledonia will get its first chance to try out its new system Saturday when it takes on Ripley at 12:30 p.m. and Pontotoc at 1:30 p.m. at the Pontotoc Volleyball Classic. Brooks said the matches won’t count against the team’s record.
Collins had 10 kills in the playoff victory against Aberdeen. Hopper and Freeman figure to be in the mix at the net in hopes of giving Caledonia a multi-faceted attack.
“We’re excited about having three hitters all of the time,” said Freeman, who will join Hopper as a middle blocker. Hopper is transitioning to the position after playing as a left-side hitter since her freshman season.
Hopper said team came together last season and needs to continue to learn how to play smarter, to read blocks, and to communicate and to support each other even more if it wants to take the next step.
“I think our drive is really going to help us this year,” Hopper said of the leadership she and Freeman hope to provide. “I think they all want it as bad as we do.”
Brooks said Hopper is strong in the middle and outside, which gives the team the flexibility to transition from a 5-1 (one setter) to a 6-2. She feels the team has the talent to push past the second round of the playoffs, especially how the seniors have stepped into their new roles and taken on leadership roles.
“We just need to mesh,” Brooks said. “A couple of them have come up from the junior varsity team last year, and we need to get all of the players to learn their players, and to learn each other.
“I feel like the team was strong as a team on and off the court last year. We have talked a lot this year about being a smarter team. I think that is a lesson I have learned as well. You really have to outsmart the other team.”
n In other prep action, Pillow Academy beat Starkville Academy (0-2) 8-4 in a fast-pitch softball game in Starkville.
Mary Austin Barber had a hit and struck out eight in the loss. Lauren Ware also had a hit, and Alex McCafferty and Adrienne Futral also had two hits.
n The Starkville Academy girls soccer team lost to the Lamar School 5-4 on Tuesday. Tiffany Huddleston had three goals and Jordan Jackson added another.
“At times we were fine and at other times we were just not there,” Starkville Academy coach Robert Gardner said. “It’s frustrating. A tie probably would have been fair, but we were not tough enough defensively and they got the game-winner in the last six minutes.”
Garland Willcutt played the entire game in goal for the Lady Volunteers. Willcutt, Huddleston, and Sydney Passons returned to the team after spending the weekend in Illinois with their Chicago Fire of Mississippi Juniors teams at the 11th annual U.S. Club National Soccer tournament. The team that Willcutt and Huddleston played on and Passons’ team lost in the finals.
Gardner said his team will need to come together defensively if it wants to rebound today against Jackson Academy.
“We have to work on defensive organization when the other team has possession,” Gardner said. “We were very scattered for most of the game and gave them so much space in the back. We didn’t track well defensively.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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