Coming off a season that ended in the South State Championship last season, the East Marion Eagles got off to surprisingly rough start in the Mountain Dew Classic at Columbia High School Saturday.
The Eagles got their season underway with a 2-0 (25-18, 25-16) loss to Seminary, who boasts an unheard of 13 seniors on its squad. In their second match against West Marion, the Eagles fell 10-25, 25-23 and 15-10.
Head coach Mandell Echols said the focus simply wasn’t there for East Marion’s serving, committing 24 serving errors, or its understanding of where to be when. With four new starters working their way in, he said the struggles are to be expected, but he remains optimistic about the team’s chances this season.
“I’m not too concerned about the two losses. I saw some stuff that I liked,” he said. “A couple of the girls’ mindset and mentality, they were nervous being that person and not having that safety net of Lia (Smith), Azariyah (Magee) and all those girls to fall back on. They were just a little nervous that they have to do it themselves.”
After dropping the first set to the Trojans by 15 points, the Eagles fell behind by eight points in the second set before going on a huge run to steal the set 25-23 and force a third. Echols said that comeback is indicative of who his team is because the girls don’t let a loss or any adversity make them quit.
“We may give up two or three points, but once they get it out of their system, they’ll fight back. They’re not going to just drop their head and quit,” he said. “That’s what I’m excited about.”
The veteran coach is also excited about the play of Ellen Porter and Asiah Allen. But there were several players who stepped up over the summer that didn’t rise to the occasion Saturday.
The Eagles don’t take the court again until Aug. 21 when they play in the Salem Tournament. With that much time between matches, Echols said they have plenty of time to work out the kinks, especially matching the opposing team’s intensity from the opening serve.
When it comes to serving, Echols has developed a system to keep the players accountable for serving errors. In practice, each time a serving error is committed, the entire team has to stop and do 10 burpees. Echols said he’s already seeing results from that strategy because none of the players want to be responsible for the entire team doing burpees.
“I can already see their whole mindset change,” he said. “They’re definitely concentrating more.”
After the Salem Tournament, the Eagles will make their home debut Aug. 23 against rival West Marion.
