RHS volleyball team eyeing regional berth
By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
RUSSELLVILLE – With the Class 5A, Area 16 volleyball tournament less than two weeks away, the Russellville Lady Golden Tigers find themselves in an unusual position: They are expected to win.
Russellville had won four out of five matches heading into Tuesday's action, finishing off season sweeps of area rivals Athens and Decatur in the process. The Lady Golden Tigers finished 4-2 in the area and will be favored along with top-seeded Muscle Shoals to advance to the regional tournament on October 21. (The top two finishers in the area tournament move on.)
"It's definitely possible," RHS coach Charlotte Dollar said prior to Monday's practice. "On the other hand, the teams that we beat [Athens and Decatur] have nothing to lose. They're in the position that we've been in the past couple of years."
Suffice it to say, the weight of higher expectations is a burden the Lady Golden Tigers are happy to bear.
"The biggest difference now is we think we can win," said Jordan Dollar, a senior middle hitter. "We haven't won a whole lot over the past few years, and it's like we're finally realizing it's okay to win."
Ironically, it was during a loss last month that the Lady Golden Tigers discovered they could win.
Russellville lost a best-of-three match to perennial powerhouse Muscle Shoals but did manage to take a game off the Lady Trojans, a feat they hadn't accomplished in quite some time.
"That really boosted our confidence," senior outside hitter Sasha Willingham said. "It showed us that Muscle Shoals is beatable."
Charlotte Dollar said Russellville's fortunes began to turn recently when freshmen Erin Reynolds and Allison Martin were moved up from the junior varsity team to the varsity.
"When we moved those two up, it allowed us to put some of our older girls in the positions that they needed to be playing," Dollar said. "Erin has given us some more height on the front line, and Allison gives us another passing option."
Reynolds began playing at middle hitter, which allowed sophomore Ariel Howard to move to her more natural position of outside hitter. Martin, a setter on the junior varsity, is primarily a defensive specialist on the varsity.
"Our team chemistry has really been coming together lately," Charlotte Dollar said. "Everybody has a set time in the rotation when they know they're going to play. We've been getting good contributions from a lot of different people.
"Our hitting percentage is up, our serving percentage is up, and we've been passing better. When you pass better, your sets are better. Everything has really started coming together. I just hope it continues through the area tournament."
If the Lady Golden Tigers can continue riding this wave of momentum, then a regional tournament berth could be in the offing.
"That's been our goal all year," Jordan Dollar said. "We want to be one of the top two teams in the area and go to the regional tournament."
Willingham stressed that teamwork will be the key down the stretch.
"We've been passing much better lately, and we're talking to each other a lot more on the court," she said. "We have to keep playing as a team and not just six individuals on the court."
