Lady Mohawk volleyball teams prepare for season opener

The Piggott Lady Mohawk volleyball team will begin the 2010 campaign on the road Thursday evening, as they travel to Westside for a jamboree involving some of the top teams in NEARK. Their first game will be at 5:30 p.m. as they take on Paragould, at 6:30 they'll meet the host Lady Warriors and at 7 p.m. they'll play Jonesboro.

For longtime Lady Mohawk Coach Melissa Williams, this year will be a rebuilding year after the Tribe failed to make it to the state tournament for the first time in nine seasons. And, she'll be doing it with a fairly young and inexperienced team. "A lot of years you just don't know how much you're going to improve as the season goes on, with this team I know--we're going to get better with every game we play," Williams said of her young squad.

"The only players with much actual game experience are Bre and Bre, Breanna Yates and Breanna Wright," she noted. "But we've got some good young talent and I think we'll continue to improve throughout the season and get better and better as we go."

This year's squad only has three seniors on the roster, Yates along with Whitley Blue and Kelsey Allman. The junior class is fairly strong, with Breanna Wright, Amber Moore, Brittany Johnson, Macy Buchanan, Paige Lockard and Allison Gurley. And there is some good size and talent among the sophomores, which include Mallory Wright, Katie Moore, Meagan Massey, Ashtyn Sills, Hollie Holcomb, Becca Morris and Alex Redmon.

Williams also gets a new assistant this year, as Jenna Weeks was hired after a stint at Armorel.

As for the conference, gone are the Brookland Bearcats who move up to 4A this year. "Everyone lost a lot to graduation last year, and it looks like all the teams are having to re-load," Williams said of the competition. Along with the Lady Mohawks the members of the 3A Northeast are Bay, Cedar Ridge, Crowley's Ridge Academy, Harrisburg, Hoxie, Ridgefield Christian and Walnut Ridge.

Last year Brookland, CRA and Harrisburg both made deep runs into the state tournament, with the Lady Falcons eliminating the Lady Bearcats in the quarterfinals, before being eliminated by the eventual state champions from Mansfield in the semi's. Meanwhile, the Lady Hornets beat Fountain Lake in the first round but then fell to Conway St. Josephs.

Harrisburg and CRA both lost a great deal to graduation, and in the off-season the Lady Hornets also lost their coach to Westside. This leaves the conference fairly wide-open, with the top three advancing to the state tournament in Hot Springs in late October.

Following Thursday's Jamboree at Westside, the Lady Mohawks will return to action Tuesday, Aug. 23 as they visit Paragould and former coach and Lady Mohawk Angie Donner's team. Their first conference set will be the following Tuesday, Aug.31 as they play host to CRA at Piggott High. Sept. 2 they'll host Walnut Ridge in conference play, and Sept. 7 will visit non-conference Pocahontas. The Tribe returns to conference play Sept. 9 at Harrisburg, and will take part in the Slamfest at Harrison the weekend of Sept. 11. The majority of the matches begin at 4:30 p.m. although a few feature 5 p.m. starts.