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| Volleyball 2-a-days start Monday, Aug. 2 as veteran Lady Porcupines get ready for ‘10 Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Mark K. Campbell
Sometimes you just can’t wait for a season to get started.
That’s where the Springtown volleyball team is – rarin’ to go.
After missing the 2009 postseason by a single match, this year’s Lady Porcupines are loaded and looking for a district championship. Coach Leighann Strickland said, “There’s no reason not to be outstanding this year. Everyone is returning; we lost no one. And we have a lot of underclassmen to help the varsity. “We’ve got the talent. We just need to work hard to make the playoffs.”
Eight seniors fill the SHS roster, led by two First Team All-District picks from last year, outside hitters Hailey Henderson and Amber Tedder. Second Team selections Kendall Hayes, Springtown’s primary setter, and Skylar Cowan, a middle blocker are back. Two more awarded returnees are outside hitter Danie Kersten and middle blocker Abby Lamont, both Honorable Mention out of 6-4A last season. For 2010, the loaded Lady Porcupines – “Several of these girls are three year lettermen,” Strickland said – will face some first-time foes after the district realignment, now 5-4A. Two rivals come from new schools while five others remain familiar – including always-potent Aledo. Strickland said, “Aledo is always good. The new schools will be good because of the area they come from [Byron Nelson is in the Northwest ISD and Timber Creek hails from Keller].” The schedule is a bit bizarre. After two homes matches wrapped around three tournaments, Springtown plays five consecutive road clashes – the second two open 5-4A play. That’s 23 straight days traveling. Finally back home on Sept. 17, archrival Azle, with a new coach from Peaster, waits. But that’s the beginning of a favorable home stretch as five of seven matches will be played at the SHS gym, including three in a row to begin October. It’s certainly possible that the 5-4A district championship could come down to the regular season finale Tuesday, Oct. 26 in Aledo. Everything begin Monday, Aug. 2 with two-a-day practices. Ninth and twelfth graders run a timed mile at 7 a.m. followed by sophomores and juniors running that distance at 7:15. Then, Strickland said, everyone practices from 8-10:30. “We’re hoping to make a run for the district championship and there’s no reason why we can’t win it,” the coach said. |
