STARKVILLE – Jakailyn Brown’s slam to clinch Starkville High School’s straight-sets win over New Hope Tuesday was a fitting end to the match for the middle blocker.
It was her match-high 10th kill, and it capped a dominant night for the junior. But the six-footer’s big swings provided positive energy and enthusiasm for her teammates that were equally as valuable as the points she scored, said Sierra Horel, first-year head coach of the Yellow Jackets.
“When she gets that swing going, the other girls feed off that,” Horel said. “If she gets down, our whole team gets down, and that’s what we tried to work on with her this year.”
Horel said Brown’s transition to middle blocker hasn’t been easy, and that she “started from the bottom” in building her skill set for the position and reinforcing the importance of a positive attitude. That process has been consistent in practice, and Brown’s willingness to accept coaching and change her approach and demeanor in matches “helps protect the court,” Horel said.
“It feels good,” Brown said. “I feel like a new person. I still have to improve on my attitude a lot, and my hits, too. But it felt really good to come out and do good for our first home game and to show that we are good – really good.”
Brown saved her best for the third and final set, tallying five kills, an ace and two blocks. Starkville also got big swings on the outside from Kyler Reeves, who added five kills.
Karlie Brooks added a team-high eight digs.
Still, Horel is keen to see the Yellow Jackets find a quicker rhythm after racing out to a 6-1 lead in the first set before New Hope rallied behind a pair of aces and a pair of deft tips from Micaela Hudgins. The Yellow Jackets gave up nine points on errors in the set before turning a one-point lead (22-21) into a four-point run and 25-21 first-set win.
Starkville won the other two sets 25-16 and 25-17.
“With the way we started tonight, it was a little rough,” Horel said. “The girls were very nervous, which is understandable. It’s our very first home game, and a lot of things are new for them, including the coaches.
“But one problem we have is we do not start well. We take about 10 to 15 points to start, and we can’t do that anymore. We have a brand new district and teams, and we’ve got to learn to start at point one. We can’t wait till 10 or 15.”
The Yellow Jackets, who finished 11-18 last season, are 5-1 ahead of a five-game stretch that includes four home games.
New Hope fell to 2-1 on the season ahead of its district opener against Columbus on Thursday. New Hope coach Allison Woolbright was disappointed with the team’s unforced errors and inability to consistently get into its offense with Hudgins in the middle and Daylyn Nettles outside.
But New Hope’s team is young – starting setter Annie Woolbright and libero Kensley Woolbright are eighth-graders, and the team has just three upperclassmen.
“A lot of it is inexperience,” Allison Woolbright said. “We’re still dealing with maturity level, but they all play club, so they got the talent. So sometimes it’s a lack of unity and teamwork and pressure of varsity and playing teams like Starkville. So that’s tough, but we do the best we can. We work hard in practice and try to go over everything we need to improve – coverage, serving, hitting, right side hitting, especially.”
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New Hope setter Annie Woolbright tips a ball over the net against Starkville Tuesday night. Photo by: David Miller/Special to the Dispatch
