WC squad begins prep for another run at state

In 42 days, the White County High School volleyball team will tip off the 2021 season against East Jackson.

On Tuesday, the Lady Warriors hit the court for the first time this summer, hosting the first of a three-day series of games as part of the Georgia High School Association's training session for volleyball referees. The Lady Warriors, along with Pickens County, Chestatee, Lakeview, Elbert County, Gainesville, Habersham Central, and Lanier will compete in matches through Thursday. The Lady Warriors played twice on Tuesday and Wednesday, and will play three matches today at the high school.

“This is crucial for us,” WCHS head coach Shannon Smith said. “Honestly, this is a very different year. We've had so many kids traveling in June, this is really our first team activity together. We'll hit it hard in July. But this gives us a chance to play around with our lineup a little bit and we get to see who we can move and make adjustments during the game. We'll move some kids to different positions, try some different things over the next three days. It's awesome because it gets the girls some game experience and puts them in game situations where there's some pressure. We can do some things and it doesn't reflect on our record.”

The Lady Warriors are coming off the best two-year run in program history after advancing to the Sweet 16 last fall and the Elite 8 in 2019. When the new season opens in less than two months, a lot of the key players from the recent success won't be on the roster anymore as Jenna Ash, Dasha Cannon, Shelby Spain, and Macy Boggs all graduated.

Despite losing a handful of key players, Smith said there is still plenty of talent on the roster, including Lindsey Burke, an All-Region pick last year as a freshman, along with Camryn Dorsey, Rusty Dye, Clair Beckman, Abbie Rankly, Savannah Martin, Kaitlyn Fernandez, Marilyn Martinez, and Peyton Hayse, who all have varsity experience.

“We'll definitely look different, but we are excited about this group,” Smith said. “We got Lindsey back as a our setter. Even though she's just sophomore, she's a captain and a leader on our team. Camryn has stepped up, and I'm really proud of Abbie, she's worked really hard to get better. She played club this past year and really has improved tremendously. I'm also excited about the freshman we have playing up on the varsity. I think we'll have a neat dynamic this year; they are a tight knit group. We still have to figure out some positions, like libero. We have Savannah back, but we also have Layla Turner that can play the position. We have a lot of options at some positions, we just have to nail it down.”

Next week, the Lady Warriors and the rest of the GHSA students will be off, thanks to the second mandatory dead week of the summer. The Lady Warriors will be back to work on July 7.

“We'll start practice right after dead week ends,” Smith said. “We'll be working out each morning. We'll have our kiddie camp as well on July 13-14, and the we are going to a team camp at Berry College on July 15. We're excited and ready to get started. It's going to be a busy month getting ready to start the season.”