Spike attack… Lady Cyclones look to stand tall against opponents at the net
Published 6:00 am Wednesday, July 31, 2019
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
When the 2019 volleyball season kicks off in just a few days, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones are hoping to continue to build off a stellar 2018 season that came to an end in the regional tournament to a very tough Greeneville team.
One of the things that will be quite different for any opponent taking the court opposite the Lady Cyclones this season is a team that has a lot of height that can make it quite imposing on an opponent.
“It’s definitely good when they walk into the gym and see that height, it just immediately sets off that feeling that its something that you are going to have to deal with,” said Lady Cyclone head coach Leslee Bradley.
“You can’t coach height, you can’t teach height—height is something that just happens and we are definitely blessed to have a lot of height on the team this year and a lot of athletic height.”
Bradley is highly optimistic that this year’s team has the tools that it takes to go very, very deep toward a highly rewarding season for her Lady Cyclones.
“We are looking for great things out of this team,” Bradley stated. “We only graduated two seniors so we have a lot of returning experience and that experience has been in big matches and knows how to play you know big points.
“We are really looking at being a good team and going down the road pretty far this year.”
With a team filled with talented players, sometimes the biggest obstacle a coach has to overcome is making sure each player realizes that when it comes to volleyball, it is a team game and not so much individualistic like what is found in baseball or basketball.
“I think a key is for us to develop some team cohesion. We do have a new look this year even though we only lost two seniors, we have some parts that are just doing different jobs with the addition of new players so just developing that team aspect of it,” Bradley continued.
“I feel right now we are still struggling just a little bit with just being individuals. In volleyball, you absolutely can’t focus on anything individually. I think that is the one thing we have to get over to get us off to a good start.”
Bradley will be leaning on a trio of players to help make sure the Lady Cyclones continue their rise on the volleyball court.
“We have senior Morgan Smith coming back who was the Co-Setter of the Year in the conference last year and she is really offensive-minded and we are trying to get her to take more of the defensive side and be more of a complete player this year,” Bradley said.
“She gives us a lot of leadership on and off the court in play.
“We have senior Deanna Hull back as our Libro and she has just really worked hard on her game. She is reading the ball well and doing a great job for us there.
Also, senior Josie Lyons is our other setter and is doing a great job of distributing the ball for us,” continued Bradley.
“We have a ton of hitters this year and we have had a couple of new players come in this year and we are extremely happy about that.”
As far as the Three Rivers Conference goes, the championship has always run through Sullivan County, specifically Kingsport, where the Sullivan South Lady Rebels have been representing Northeast Tennessee at the state level for several years.
“It’s Sullivan South’s show until someone else proves otherwise because it has been that way for 12 years,” Bradley said in reviewing the conference teams. “Sullivan Central is going to be super tough this year as well as they only graduated two players.
“Sullivan East is always there in the mix so those three Sullivan County schools and us will be battling it out.
“Unicoi County has a new coach and they have a lot of height so I am curious to see how they will jell with a new coach and what they will do. The conference is going to be tough every night.”
The Lady Cyclones host Daniel Boone on August 19th to kick off their 2019 campaign.