Volleyball teams compete in Drummond

DRUMMOND – All three Mineral County volleyball teams started their seasons out with not one or two games but eight back-to-back matches at the Drummond tournament last weekend.

The St. Regis Lady Tigers, the Alberton Lady Panthers and the Superior Lady Bobcats all clawed their way through the Drummond tourney with varying degrees of success. For one team, the tournament was a draw with the team winning half of their matches.

Lady Panthers Head Coach Phil Taylen said he thought his team was showing a lot of potential for the long road ahead. He said the team defeated Sheridan, split with Noxon and Victor and lost two games to Darby.

“They did very well,” Taylen said. “Our seniors had very good games. We saw really good court awareness and our hitters were very good and we had good blocking.”

While Taylen has a relatively young team, he said that was offset by the strong leadership he had in his seniors. He said seniors Olivia Taylen and Taylor Erdman especially rose to the occasion in Drummond and showed some of the younger girls how it’s done on the court.

“Olivia led in spikes,” Taylen said. “Taylor had some great serves and spikes as well. Our hitters were really very good. Our serving was really good. We were at about 80 percent which was much higher than what we had last year. Last year we were at about 60 percent so we are meeting our goals there if we can get that up to about 90 percent.”

Taylen said, while eight games in one day is quite an undertaking for a young team, his players are well accustomed to the pressures. He said the pre-season practices have paid off in the form of a very athletic team of Lady Panthers.

“They are very well conditioned,” Taylen said. “We feel that we are really doing well and we are looking forward to the up coming season.”

The next game for the Lady Panthers will be on the road against Victor. Going against a team that the Panthers split against in Drummond will bring a new set of challenges said Taylen but now that he has seen them play, he said he knew what his team needed to work on this week.

“We will be working on digging,” Taylen said. “We need to be able to handle their spikes. We will also be working on our serves. We want to get that percent up. That’s really a key in high school volleyball. We have to get all the serves in.”

Taylen said the team from Victor comes to the court with a formidable offense. He said the Lady Panthers would be adjusting their offense to compensate.

“I think we are doing really good,” Taylen said. “Last year we only won one game out of the eight so we are already improved. I think we have a lot of things to work off of.”

Earlier in the week, St. Regis lost three games to Darby in the first game of their season. Gabby Moeller had nine kills while Courtney Cheesman had two blocks for the Lady Tigers. Cheesman also had four aces from the service line. Pilar Cantrell-Field had seven assists. Information about the Superior Lady Bobcats was unavailable at time of print.