Columbus Volleyball Tourney this weekend
Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer
Devine volleyball head coach Leigh Anne McIver is putting her somewhat-young team to the test early and often this season. With highly competitive scrimmages against San Antonio Christian, Poth, and Navarro and games against San Antonio Southwest Legacy and San Antonio Wagner in the rear view mirror, upcoming games at Giddings and the Columbus Tournament provides a further look at who is ready for varsity competition and who may need a little more seasoning on the JV so they may be ready to step in as the season progresses.
“Although the scrimmages against SAC and Poth may not have been our best, we ended on a good note on the last scrimmage against Navarro,” McIver stated. “We were not playing like we have been practicing but with lots of new girls against varsity level players for the first time, this was not unexpected.”
Like any team, whether it be on a court or in a business office boardroom somewhere, coming together to make “presentations” look flawless takes time.
“As we get more practices under our belts and a chance to gel with each other more often, we will become the team that Devine is used to seeing on the court.”
Scrimmages, preseason games, and tournaments are all about finding the right mix that is ready to go to battle once district and state playoffs begin.
“We tried a lot of different lineups this weekend, and really just tinkered with some things trying to find the right combination of players within certain situations.”
In what was both teams’ season opener this past Monday, Southwest Legacy topped the Arabians in the DSAC three sets to one (22-25, 16-25, 25-16, 16-25).
“We did some remarkable things against Legacy but beat ourselves with errors. However, those errors are ones that can be fixed, and the girls have the ability and desire to fix them quickly.”
Bella Flores led Devine with 18 kills and 10 digs while Airyanna Rodriguez snapped down 11 kills to go along with 16 digs. Kynedie Cruz set up a whopping 36 assists.
“The girls definitely made lots of hustle plays and put on a show at times, but the consistency was lacking. With players in new roles, they have to insert themselves into those roles and gain that valuable experience. Once they get a few more games under their belt and have several opportunities to gain experience with each other on the court, it is going to be hard to stop them!”
Devine took on San Antonio Wagner Tuesday, Aug13.
Columbus Tourney
Devine opens play at 9am Thursday in the Columbus Tournament versus Lexington before taking on East Bernard at 11am then Weimer at 1pm.
Other schools participating are Schulenburg, Boiling, Victoria West, Cypress Christian, Edna, RTC, St. John, Sealy, Burton, Brazos, La Grange, and, of course, host Columbus.
Next serve
Aug14 @ Giddings 4:30pm Aug15-17 @ Columbus Tournament TBA Aug 20 vs Ingram 6pm.