Lumberton Volleyball

[oldcoach]

District 22-4A volleyball tight race ... as predicted

By JOHNNIE WALTERS, The Enterprise

10/09/2007

Carissa Barrows knew it was a possibility.

Before the volleyball season began, the Lumberton coach predicted a tight race in District 22-4A.

And as it stands, Barrows was right.

Lumberton is in a three-way tie with Ozen and Little Cypress-Mauriceville for second place at 6-4. Central, Nederland and Dayton are tied for fifth place at 4-6.

Port Neches-Groves sits comfortably in first place with an undefeated 10-0 district record.

"We have talked about the district being close all year long," Barrows said. "I think it's going to be a tight race all the way to the end. It's all about which teams will fight hard the entire schedule."

Before last Friday's games, LC-M had sole possession of second place with a one-game lead over Ozen and Lumberton.

Ozen defeated LC-M 3-2, while Lumberton beat Central 3-2 to join the Bears in the second-place spot.

"You can never give up in this district," Barrows said. "You really never know what's going to happen in this district. There have been a lot of surprises. I think if you play hard every night any team can be a contender."

Lumberton continues district play today with a 7 p.m. showdown against PN-G at the Rock-A-Noos' gym.

"You have to give PN-G respect because they are undefeated in district play," said Barrows, whose team lost to PN-G in its first district meeting. "They know how to win over there and they have a history of success. But it really doesn't matter who your opponents are if you do your job and give 100 percent on your side of the court. Any team can lose on any given night."

The Raiders (22-10) won the final three games against Central to win the match last Friday. After Central beat Lumberton 25-13, 25-23, the Raiders won the last three games, 25-22, 25-21, 15-8.

"It was a good game," Barrows said. "We really stayed focused and played our game. Everybody really gave a good team effort to get the win."

Senior outside hitter Laurie Abbo, junior outside hitter Alyssa Valastro and junior setter Courtney Howell have made the biggest impact on the court. But Barrows insists the team comes first before individual performances.

"It's a team effort with us every single night," Barrows said. "We don't really have any major standouts that really stick out every game with us. We work together to win games."

[volleyballfan]

I have to agree that Lumberton has a good team.  I have seen these girls play.  When they all move around the court they play very well, it's only when the players get in position and don't move their feet that they tend to loose it.  They also have very good hitters.  I don't know the name of #7 on the team, but when she gets a good set she can hit the ball so hard it knocks the player on the other team off of their feet, I witnessed this myself during the Vidor game.  Although the setter is good, I think that if the coach worked on getting the sets more in line with where they need to be in order for the hitters to kill the ball, this team could definitely make it into the playoffs. Good Luck, girls!!