The Hackett Lady Hornets have been preparing all summer long for their upcoming volleyball season. Gaining experience through multiple team camps while also putting a considerable amount of time into workouts and practices, the Lady Hornets are ready to embark on a Slamtastic Voyage. Last season, Hackett senior high volleyball ended with an overall record of 22-10-1, a conference record of 11-1, and made it to the second round of state.
The Lady Hornets are headed by coaches Bridget Freeman and Broc Adams. Last season the team only lost three seniors and this year their roster numbers continue to climb. Coach Bridget Freeman explains, “Going into our fifth year for junior high and our fourth year for senior high, we have so many more girls involved in this program. We have 20 girls on the senior team, 25 girls on the junior team, and eight 7th graders. We are now able to practice on more specifics of the game and the older girls are great about coaching the younger incoming players.”
The Lady Hornets continue to improve daily through their “willingness to work hard, positive attitudes, and a plethora of dedicated parents who see to it that our program continues to thrive.” Although Hackett volleyball is still a young program, they will continue to climb the hill and do whatever it takes to get better.
For the upcoming season, the Lady Hornets will compete in the 2A West conference with teams from Alpena, Decatur, Eureka Springs, Lavaca, Mulberry, and Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy. The girls already have their goals set in place in hopes of ensuring a winning season, “The work ethic is great and I know that will continue. I want us to serve more aggressively, cut down on the hitting errors, and continue to improve on our defensive game.”
I think the girls have already set their expectations high. The Jr High team motto is “R3PEAT” which is them trying to repeat conference and district champs for the 3rd year in a row. Sr Highs is “UFB” which stands for unfinished business which is what they feel they have from when we lost out of state last year.”
The Lady Hornets are excited and looking forward to their upcoming matches at the Harrison and River Valley tournaments because of the new opponents they get to face and the challenges the girls are given. “One of the reasons we are successful is because of our balance of talent in each position on the floor.”
Hackett is still working on their line up but as of now, the outside hitters are juniors Rain Vaughn and Kandace Byrd. The middles are junior Jamye Durham and sophomore Kenadi Wright. The setters are junior Madi Taylor and sophomore Madeline Freeman. And the right sides are junior Kayla Richardson and sophomore Shayla Foster. Picked as the libero is sophomore Sarah White. Several subs are also ready to step in and help out at the sound of go.
The Lady Hornets volleyball season is set to take off first with their annual Black and Gold Game on August 15 at 5 p.m. and then on August 20 Hackett will play in a Benefit Game at Charleston at 4:30 p.m.
