CHURCH HILL — Volunteer and Cherokee opened the 2024 volleyball season on Thursday with solid showings at the Twin Lakes Conference jamboree.
Claiborne, Grainger and Gibbs joined the two Hawkins County rivals at Volunteer High School for the single-set, round-robin jamboree. Union County opted out of the event.
Cherokee and Grainger took to the court first, with the Lady Grizzlies pulling out a tough 25-19 win. Gibbs defeated Claiborne 25-15 in the second set. Grainger also defeated Claiborne 25-13.
The Lady Falcons, the defending league champions, didn’t lose a set in conference play last season. Thursday didn’t change that. The Lady Falcons defeated Gibbs 25-15 and then beat county rival Cherokee 25-15 in the nightcap.
“Our girls were ready for competition. They needed it. We’ve had a lot of long practices, and we could feel it. They need to get out and start playing games. This is a great opportunity to do that,” said Volunteer head coach Nora Barton.
Despite losing heavy hitters Jaycee Cassidy and Veda Barton to graduation, the Lady Falcons came out swinging with sophomore Kayla Capson making her presence felt early and often.
“She’s definitely a staple for us at this point. She worked really hard in the off-season. She’s been to a few camps. So, she’s really trying to improve her game, and we’re going to look to her. She’s going to be one of our go-to players,” Barton said.
The Lady Falcons have lots of experience returning, with six seniors (Isabella Byington, setter Lily Christian, Mattie Crowder, Lexi Hilton, Aliah Laster and libero Chloe Redwine) and a talented trio of juniors (Aubree Hall, Adah Snodgrass and Karsyn Gibson).
“They’re so versatile.They have been through so many different rotations, and they’ve risen to every single one of them. Whatever hesitations we had in the preseason, they’re gone. They can make it work,” said Barton, who is assisted by Sydney Allen and Ashley Wilson.
Cherokee head coach McKenzie Brewer was also pleased with her team’s jamboree performance.
“We’ve got new people in new positions, so we’re working hard. Now, we know what we need to work on,” Brewer said. “Overall, I’m not disappointed whatsoever with how they played.”
Brewer said the Lady Chiefs will look to their four seniors — Nicole Bradley, Gabi Catron, Kristen Gillett and Campbell Owen — to lead the way. Bradley and Gillett work the middle and are expected to score a lot for Cherokee. Catron is the libero and an all-around good passer. Owen hits from the right side but also anchors the defense at times.
“We’ve been on them this year about just moving their feet. We don’t want a ball to drop, and I thought they worked hard on that,” Brewer said. “We’ve got to work on blocking and taking away those holes for every team. The short balls, we’ve got to quit staying on our heels and just be ready at all times.”
Brewer’s assistant coach is former Lady Chief Paisley Lyons.
The teams open the regular season this week.
“I want to give a shoutout to Claiborne. They just hustled. They’re scrappy. I’m really excited to see how much they’re going to grow,” Barton said. “That’s the thing, everybody gets better. The next time we see them, they’ll all be better. We’ll be better. They’ll be better. That’s an exciting part of the game is how much do we all grow during the season.”
Cherokee opens at Hancock Tuesday (Aug. 20) at 5 p.m. and hosts Hancock and West Greene on Thursday (Aug. 22) at 4:30 p.m. Next week, the Lady Chiefs travel to Washburn on Monday (Aug. 26), Claiborne on Tuesday (Aug. 27) and Grainger on Thursday (Aug. 29).
Volunteer opens the season Monday (Aug. 19) at 4:30 p.m. against Dobyns-Bennett at The Nest. They’ll travel to Daniel Boone Tuesday (Aug. 20) and to Union County on Thursday (Aug. 22). Next week, the Lady Falcons travel to West Ridge on Monday (Aug. 26), Gibbs on Tuesday (Aug. 27) and host Gate City on Wednesday (Aug. 28).
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