West Marion opened its volleyball season in the Columbia Classic Saturday, and while it lost both matches there were a lot of positives.
In the Trojans’ opening match Saturday morning, Salem made quick work of them in a 2-0 sweep, winning 25-12 and 25-16. Head coach Todd Pittman said he wasn’t sure if it was nerves or what but that the Trojans just didn’t play very well.
The Trojans had just 11 kills and two aces in the match while committing 16 attack errors and eight serving errors. Atayviah Williams paced the squad with four kills, followed by Lainey Brumfield’s three, and Avery Holmes had nine assists.
The Trojans came back and played a lot better during their afternoon match against Columbia but let a lead slip away and lost 2-1 (25-23, 24-26, 11-15).
“We beat Columbia in the first set and should’ve beat them in the second set, but we gave up a seven-point lead and wound up getting beat 26-24,” Pittman said. “But we played better. We made some mistakes early, but that’s what that’s for.”
Williams led the team with five kills, and Brumfield and J’Niaha Stampley each had three. Williams also paced the squad with four aces, while Holmes had 10 assists.
Pittman said Holmes played well as the setter and all of West Marion’s hitters played fairly well.
“They missed on some swings, but for the most part they did most things well attacking from the front row. Kaleigh Stringer, Atayviah Williams, J’Niaha Stampley and Lainey Brumfield had several kills,” he said.
Beginning Tuesday, West Marion was scheduled to play eight games in seven days, culminating in its first district match at East Marion Tuesday, Aug. 20. Pittman said he wants to see the Trojans get a little better each match and get more consistent in the little things to give them a chance to compete in district.
“We just have to clean up some small mistakes, especially in the serve receiving game. We can’t let teams run off several points in a row on their serves. We’ve got to really concentrate on getting a pass up and breaking that serve,” he said.
The Trojans played at Sacred Heart Tuesday night, but results were unavailable at press time. They will play at McComb Thursday before playing four matches Saturday in the Salem Tournament. They will play Salem at 9 a.m. West Jones at 10 and Sacred Heart at noon. The opponent at time for their fourth opponent will be dependent upon results from previous matches.
Pictured Above: Trojans sophomore Jillian Pittman returns a serve against Salem. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
