Local volleyball teams scrimmage before season opener

RED OAK – After a week and a half of practicing solely against teammates, area volleyball teams had a chance to compete with other schools without the score mattering.

Red Oak High School hosted a scrimmage setting for volleyball teams from Red Oak, East Mills, Stanton, Essex, and Farragut.

“It’s a good chance for the girls to see some action at game speed,” Red Oak Athletic Director and former volleyball head coach Angie Spangenberg said. “We started this a few years ago and it’s really grown to be a nice event.”

The price of admission was to bring a bottle of water or sports drink.

The drinks are for the Red Oak volleyball team to use at tournaments later this season.

As for the scrimmage itself, the teams played with no score kept in 15-minute intervals as they rotated games on two courts.

Red Oak Tigers - The Tigers split their 44-player roster into two teams to make an even six teams for the rotation.

“I felt like our girls came out and played very well,” first-year Red Oak head volleyball coach Angie Montgomery said. “We have some things to work on, but I felt pretty good about our girls performance.”

The Tigers showed they will rely on senior setter Kaely Piller and sophomore outside hitter Gabrielle French to lead the offense with the help of senior middle hitter Lauren Fellers and senior outside hitter Kelsey Perdue on the front line.

Stanton Viqueens - First-year coach Jessica Browning was impressed with her squad’s playing for the first two rounds.

“Our girls came out and really worked well together,” Browning said. “We’re going to be pretty young this year, only playing with one senior tonight, but they’re coming together pretty quickly.”

Outside hitter Jordan Sorensen will is the senior leader for the Viqueens this season.

Stanton will also look to Kadie Subbert to continue her dominance in the middle this season.

Essex Trojanettes – Leaving the scrimmage with a sense of confidence is exactly what head coach Denny Perry was hoping to achieve in Red Oak.

“I’m glad we could play the way we did today,” Perry said. “We took the first steps in a building process of seeing what we are doing well and what we need to work on. That’s really what today is for.”

Senior outside hitter Joscelyn Coleman continues to be the cornerstone of the Trojanettes.

Perry is also looking for some big play from juniors Tara Maher and Annie Lindburg to add some extra support throughout the season.

East Mills Wolverines – Head Coach Connie Blank is working on rebuilding the Wolverines to push to the top of the Corner Conference this season.

“We have some things to work on that are going to be part of the growing process,” Blank said. “I felt we did okay today. It was really good to see some of our in-conference competition today.”

The Wolverines are making some changes in their lineup including moving last year’s lead setter Amy Walker to an outside hitter.

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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