The nets were up and players were sliding on their knees as the volleyball season began Monday in Marion County.
On its senior night, East Marion (1-0) got the job done to begin the year, sweeping South Pike 25-14, 25-14 and 25-8.
However, head coach Mandell Echols said the seniors — Azariyah Magee, Lia Smith, Dyani Weary and Selena Jackson — didn’t play as well as he thought they were and that they were passive.
“They should’ve been more aggressive, but we played OK,” he said. “The younger girls stepped up for me, and I liked that. Some of them moved up to high school after playing JV, and I liked how they played.”
Sophomore Asiah Allen was one of the youngsters who rose to the occasion, and she was responsible for flipping the first set in East Marion’s favor. The Eagles were neck-and-neck with South Pike in the opening set until Allen scored eight straight points with her serving to set the tone for the rest of the match.
“She’s been more aggressive and attacking the ball,” Echols said.
Echols added the Eagles are going to go back over their attacking drills to restore their aggressiveness.
“I went away from them because I felt like they were aggressive already so I was just trying to develop some of the young girls. But we’ll go back to them,” he said.
The Eagles held their senior night early to make sure the senior class got recognized just in case the season gets suspended or canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
West Marion (1-0) also was at home to begin its season Monday night and bested McComb. Columbia (0-1) was on the road and got swept by West Jones 25-13, 25-15 and 25-20.
First-year Wildcats head coach Ryan Loftin said Columbia was rusty Monday and playing a really good team in West Jones.
“We were like a half step slow on a lot of stuff,” he said. “I thought we played really, really well up against the net. I thought we served OK. It was our serve return we struggled with. I got to work on some alignments and try to make some adjustments there.”
The Wildcats are led by three seniors — Kennedy Newsom, Aniyah Fortenberry and Ashley Cox — but are dealing with a depleted roster. They were expecting to have 19 players but are down to 14 because five opted for virtual learning this semester, according to Loftin.
“We’re really leaning on our seniors to help lead us in the right direction,” he said.
Loftin added the Wildcats will be able to compete in district competition if they’re able to improve their serving and serve returns.
Trojans head coach Todd Pittman could not be reached for comment.
