Rockdale High School head volleyball coach Kelsey Hudson was impressed with her young team’s first official outing of the 2019 season.
“I thought it went well for our first time playing together,” Hudson said. “We played hard and we competed well.
“We still have a lot to work on, but I was very pleased with how it went on Saturday.”
With six players gone from last year’s group, this year’s team is a much younger squad. Freshmen Emma Whitsel, Julie Bartsch and Yoli Castillo all played in their first high school volleyball game as freshmen and did well, according to Hudson.
“They handled it really well on Saturday.” Hudson said.
Junior Averie Hobbs also saw a lot of time at setter for the Lady Tigers on Saturday. Hobbs was a backup setter last season but wasn’t a consistent varsity player. Sophomore Haven Jimenez and junior Anna Harmon return to varsity. Jimenez saw a lot of time at the net and Harmon, in her second year of high school volleyball, saw a lot of time in the middle of the court.
RHS has just three seniors this year in Payton Miller, Andrea Salazar and Emily Depine.
“They were very vocal during the scrimmages,” Hudson said. “We’ll really need their leadership.”
In addition to having a much younger team, RHS also has a very different look this season. In 2018, they were dominant on the front line with all-district selections Kaylee Criswell and Lyndsay Kolar but this year Rockdale is a much smaller team and will likely rely on defense this year.
“We are very good on defense,” Hudson said. “We are very scrappy.
“Since we’re one of the smaller teams in our district we’ll probably have to hang our hat on our defense.”
TOURNAMENT-After seeing them this past Saturday, the Lady Tigers played in their first official game on Tuesday against their Milam County neighbor the Milano Lady Eagles after press time at home.
Rockdale kicks off their first tournament of the season on Thursday in Franklin. They are scheduled to face Anderson-Shiro, Live Oak Classical and Wallis-Brazos that day. They will also play in Franklin on Friday and Saturday but the games have yet to be announced.
Rockdale will be back in town on Tuesday, Aug. 13, when they face the Lady Tigers of Thrall.
MILANO—Like the Lady Tigers, Milano also made their season debut in Rockdale on Saturday.
“The first few days of practice are always tough,” said Wendy King, MHS head volleyball coach.
“We are limited with the number of varsity players we have but we are having fun and making the most of the personnel we have.”
The Lady Eagles returned to Rockdale on Tuesday for their official game of the season after press time. MHS heads up north this weekend for their first tournament in Cameron taking place on Thursday and Saturday. Milano also faces Rosebud-Lott for their home opener on Friday. Junior varsity starts at 5 p.m., with the varsity following.
THORNDALE—The Lady Bulldogs played in their first scrimmage this past Saturday in Taylor.
“We have a lot of growing and learning to do in order to be successful,” said Angel Raines, THS head volleyball coach. “We are still trying to figure out where girls fit but the energy has been great so far.”
Raines also said that they’re roster is a bit different than their 2018 state-finalist team.
“We are on the smaller side this year,” Raines said.
“But our main focus for now is finding what combination of players and rotations work best. Once we figure that out we’ll be able to get comfortable with each other and have to focus on the small stuff.”
THS played this past Tuesday against Rosebud-Lott after press time. They make their tournament debut on Thursday in Round Rock at the Westwood Tournament.
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