The Clarke Central High School JV volleyball team plays in its second game of the season against Madison County High School and Athens Christian High School on Aug. 16. According to head JV volleyball coach Lisa Hill, the team has grown over the course of the season but still has room for improvement. “Our goals for the year have been communication on the court and then to be aggressive offensively, so we’re working on swinging at balls instead of just sending free balls over the net,” Hill said. Photo by Alexander Robinson
The Clarke Central High School varsity and JV volleyball teams will play Cedar Shoals High School and Loganville High School on Sept. 18.
The Clarke Central High School JV and Varsity volleyball teams will travel to Cedar Shoals High School on Sept. 18 for their sixth game of the season against Loganville and Cedar Shoals.
According to head JV volleyball coach Lisa Hill, Clarke Central’s JV volleyball team played against CSHS two times last year and won both games. Cedar will be a more competitive opponent this year.
“They have a second-year coach. This is also (head varsity volleyball coach Stacey Scott’s and my) second year running the program at Central so both programs have grown immensely. Based on how much we’ve grown as a team, I’m expecting (Cedar) to have the same amount of growth,” Hill said.
Although Clarke Central High School sophomore and JV volleyball player Ietta Veeder agrees with Hill, she wants her team to still maintain the mindset of beating Cedar.
“As soon as we go into the game day we’re like ‘We’re going to beat Cedar,’ and ‘Boo Cedar!’ — the classic rival stuff. There’s always good sportsmanship you want to keep hold of but still squash them,” Veeder said.
To prepare for the game, the JV team is working on communication and confidence within the players.
“We have a lot freshmen players on the JV team so we’re struggling a little bit with confidence and trusting each other,” Veeder said. “Trusting each other to go get the ball, saying you got the other person’s back, which of course we know that, but when it comes to being on the courts, sometimes people freeze up.”
Hill leaves it up to her team to motivate themselves and their teammates in order to perform well and beat their opponents. She hopes this encouragement will help the team win against Cedar.
“I usually don’t have to do a lot to pump up the girls. They do a good job of motivating each other. Off the top of my head, (freshman and JV player) Lily Meyers is a really big leader on our court because she’s always screaming and going crazy,” Hill said. “Then I have players like Ietta Veeder who lead not by being enthusiastic but by making sure everyone’s in the right spot, keeping communication open during the play.”
