Last season the Columbia High School volleyball team narrowly missed out on a playoff berth due to a tiebreaker after finishing with the same district record as Salem at 7-3.
Now the Wildcats are back in action and have their sights set on a Class 1 Region 7 title.
“Our goal every season is to win district. If you win district, you make the playoffs,” head coach Scott Fitzgerald said. “It’s not about just getting to the playoffs but to win district.”
Columbia will host its annual Columbia Classic Saturday with West Marion, East Marion, Salem and Seminary participating. The Wildcats will play West Marion at 10 a.m. and East Marion at 2 p.m.
The Wildcats lost three keys pieces from last year’s squad to graduation, but Fitzgerald loaded up the summer slate with elite competition to get their replacements ready for the season.
“We’ve got a lot of younger girls that have stepped up. We played a lot this summer, playing in Gulfport for a couple of days against some big schools like Ocean Springs, Gulfport, Biloxi, St. Martin and Pass Christian. We went played over in McComb against McComb, Hazlehurst and Salem so we’ve played a lot of games this summer,” he said. “They have a lot of experience. We should be OK.”
Fitzgerald expects Lauren Hill and Abby Morris to take care of the middle, Michelle Martin and Ashley Cox to be the setters, Kacey Stampley and Kennedy Newsom to be the outside hitters and Dariel Racasner to be the libero. A libero is crucial to a team’s defense, digging serves and spikes from the opposition.
Fitzgerald said it all comes down to taking care of business against the Wildcats’ biggest rivals.
“We just have to win the games we need to win in the district. That’s really what it comes down to — winning district games,” he said. “We have a good non-district schedule that we’re playing so we should be good to go by the time it’s district.”
Fitzgerald said one of the Wildcats’ crosstown foes will once again be the team to beat to claim the district crown.
“Probably the team to beat is East Marion in the district again. They’re just really athletic all the way around the court,” he said.
Last season East Marion went 22-2 and a perfect 10-0 in district play. Columbia finished 11-14 but won five of its last six district matches.
Pictured Above: Columbia High School’s Abby Morris sets the volleyball for the Wildcats during last year’s annual Columbia Classic against West Marion. | Photo by Mark Rogers
