While most teams are hitting the court for the first time this week, Louisa County’s volleyball team has already been busy, playing for the fifth time already when they hosted Cumberland County on Thursday night.
The Lions had some communication and passing issues during stretches, but they were able to handle the Dukes in three straight games, 25-12, 25-20, 25-11.
“We still have to play better than that,” said Louisa coach Dave Boardway. “We’d have plays were it was dig, set and boom and then follow it up with some totally easy pass and a soft hit because we weren’t talking or we bumped into each other. We’re not quite in the flow yet. There’s a lot of room to grow though.”
For the first halves of both game one and game two, the teams were neck and neck (10-8, 10-9) but on both occasions the Lions were able to go on significant runs to pick up wins. In game three, it was all Louisa from start to finish.
Emily Walton and Kerrie Chisholm led the Lions (3-2) with five kills apiece. Chisholm, just a sophomore, showed plenty of promise for Louisa with her hitting strength, but Boardway would like for her get a little more accurate with her kill shots.
“Big hits are great and they make the crowd go ‘ooh or aah’,” Boardway said. “But if you have say one great hit and follow it with two errors, you’ve done more harm than good. We’ve got to play smart.”
Senior Courtney Buchholz had a strong showing as well, particularly with her serve, committing no errors in that department and picking up two aces. Boardway was pleased that he had the chance to substitute in his bench during the third game after the Louisa jumped out to a 15-5 start on the Dukes. Considering some of the talent in the Jefferson District, playing time can be sparse for many of the younger players on the roster.
“That was good that a lot of the kids got a chance to play,” Boardway said. “But that was because Cumberland let us get to that point. We’re not going to be able to do that against a lot of the teams we play, and not against a couple of the teams we see in the district.”
The Lions play again on Tuesday at Spotsylvania before they take a week off and open up district play with a road match against William Monroe on September 10th.
-Ryan Yemen
