Recently the Mansfield Lady Tigers Jr High and Sr High volleyball teams, went to Lavaca to take on the Lady Golden Arrows. Both Mansfield squads were able to get in some good reps and find out what areas would need adjusting before conference play started. The Jr High team won their first two sets and the Sr High fell short with final scores of 25-23, 25-18, and 25-15.
“Overall we played well for the first game of the year,” said Jr High Coach, Erica McKay. “The mistakes and miscommunications that were made, I am hoping to not see as they continue to play more games. We are solid offensively, but we have been working very hard on the defensive side and will continue to minimize the serve receive and digging errors. Going into every game this season, I have high expectations of our performance and will continue to challenge and give them goals with each opponent that comes our way.”
As for the Sr High Lady Tigers, the girls persevered and battled through everything that the Lady Arrows launched their way. “The girls played very hard with a lot of effort,” explained Sr High Coach, Kaylie Pyles. “I was very pleased that the girls kept fighting for every point and never gave up. We had a difficult time passing in serve receive, which in return left us unable to utilize our offensive capabilities. With better passing, this will help us tremendously in getting our offensive game back where it needs to be for the rest of the season.”
“We will continue to work on serving during practice because we have to become more consistent. Defensively we were led by Kiara Thomas with 15 digs, Haylee Helms trailing her with 11 and Vanessa Noblitt with 7. Brooke Wright also added 5 kills and 2 blocks for the night.”
On Tuesday, September 3, the Mansfield Lady Tigers will compete in their first conference game of the season at Lincoln against the always ferocious Lady Wolves. Ready for the match-up, Coach Pyles adds “Against Lincoln, we are looking forward to having better communication out on the court, which will bring back our offensive game and show our talent and willingness to win!”
