Riverwood ready to come 'back for more' in year two under Coach E'Lisa Ladson

As we near the start of the 2024 Georgia High School Association volleyball season, teams are entering the final stretch of summer workouts and ramping up for action on the courts and for the Riverwood Raiders, battles at the net begin on August 8 when they face Newnan and Lovett in a tri-match.

The 2024 season will also be the Raiders second year under the direction of head coach, E’Lisa Ladson, who led the Raiders to a turnaround season that ended with a 30-12-1 overall record, 5-1 in region play and a GHSA Class 6A state championship tournament berth, advancing to the round of 16.

“Year one, it had its challenges but it also had its successes as well,” Ladson said as she shared her experience of taking over the Raiders’ program. “You know, coming in as a new coach, there’s always that, ‘ok first year, it’s going to be kind of the rebuilding, they have to get to know you’,” Ladson said however noting that she believes the fast approach she and her players took to establishing their relationships was key to the success they had throughout the season.

“Honestly, I attribute a lot of that to my seniors,” Ladson continued as she praised the upper classmen for their efforts in helping the players getting to know her. “They attached to me and we got to bond  super quick and I think the younger crew followed because of that,” Ladson said, adding that while there were times of “pushback”, the team’s goals allowed for everyone “to get on board”.

Now, heading into year two, having only graduated three seniors, the Raiders are “hashtag back for more,” Ladson said of the team’s message within as they look to build off of the success of the 2023 season. “I look at these girls, and yes they are young, but they have such a competitive spirit,” said of her players’ work ethics over the summer.

“It just gives me chills to see how hard they fight and they go and you see ones that have shied away from diving and going all out, you see them next to somebody that they don’t want to let down. And now she’s diving and now they’re doing things that they didn’t do before,” Ladson said of the eagerness of her players to better themselves individually and as a team.