CALEDONIA — It’s safe to say Samantha Brooks was curious in the preseason when asked how the Caledonia High School volleyball team was going to fare in 2016.
On paper, Brooks knew her Lady Confederates didn’t have a lot of size, which meant they weren’t going to be a dominating blocking team. With a total of five freshmen and sophomores on the 12-player varsity roster, Brooks also wasn’t sure how Caledonia’s youth would blend with its experience, especially seniors Kaylee Jernigan, Gracie McCleskey, Jensen Reed, and Cheyenne Ruth.
A little more than two months later, Brooks smiles when asked about her feelings in the preseason.
“I am very impressed with them this year,” Brooks said. “We have played as a team and we have taken responsibilities for our positions. We haven’t been playing the blame game. That is really a mature thing for a group of high schoolers to do. I think that has paid off.”
Caledonia (26-5), the Region 4 winner, will try to build on that success at 6 tonight when it plays host to Cleveland in the first round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class II playoffs.
Brooks said Caledonia split two regular-season matches against Lafayette. A 3-0 victory gave the Lady Confederates the tiebreaker. The teams also tied last season, but Caledonia lost a tiebreaker that came down to points. It then lost to Corinth in the first round of the playoffs.
This season, Brooks said the chemistry of players like Jernigan, Reed, Ruth, and junior Bailie Cross has helped set the tone. She said the players’ willingness to buy into the collective idea of winning for the team. Brooks said freshmen Maddy Suggs, Tori Brooks, who is her daughter, and Ansley Brown, share a drive to succeed, as do sophomore Lizzie Truelock and McCleskey. All of the pieces have come together to make a collective investment for success.
“Everything has been really consistent this year,” coach Brooks said.
Brooks said running a 5-1, where Reed has played the majority of the time as setter, a variety of hitters, and an improved defense factored into the team’s ability to build off winning the Silver Division at the Ridgeland tournament at the beginning of the seasons. She said the team didn’t experience very many bumps in the road and has overcome mental hurdles to earn a return trip to the playoffs.
Jernigan said the Lady Confederates haven’t let the off-the-court drama affect their play. Reed said the chemistry on the team is stronger than last season, which has allowed the team to communicate and play together. Both players laughed when how the team has overcome its lack of size to do so well.
At 5-3, Reed jokes her father makes sneakers that make her appear taller. At 5-6, Jernigan didn’t say if she has the same kind of sneakers.
“We’re very good defensively,” Reed said. “We cover every ball. We’re always loud and talking. We have Cheyenne and Tori as blockers, so whenever they don’t get the ball we are there to cover it. We work as a team.”
Jernigan said the team’s lack of height isn’t a disadvantage because the Lady Confederates have had “a lot of awesome teamwork” that has allowed the squad to capitalize on the consistency and the balance of each player. Reed said the relationships the players have with their teammates has enabled them to continue to support and to encourage everybody to keep working hard.
“We know where our strengths are and how to use them,” Reed said. “When someone can’t get to a ball, we know someone else is going to step in and take it because we are all confident in each others’ abilities.”
A year after playing away from home due to its home court being resurfaced, Brooks hopes the team will have great support from the home fans to give it a boost to keep its season alive.
“I hope they play the best they can play, play their hearts out, play together because it could be the end,” Brooks said. “It can go either way. I feel like we’re pretty evenly matched with Cleveland. I think it is going to be who shows up and outplays the other.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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