Alma has huge potential in 2020
Alma has huge potential in 2020
All the puzzle pieces are there.
It’s just a matter of putting them in place and seeing where it goes.
Heading into the 2020 prep volleyball season the Almahigh School volleyball team has the makings of a very good team.
Up front left-handed hammer Alyssa Leister is a tremendous talent, the kind that comes through a program every decade or so. Complimenting her on the other side is right-handed hammer Julia Cena, a lanky hitter who gives the Panthers a nice one-two punch at the net.
Within themselves Leister and Cena can carry the Panthers a ways, but only a ways. If Alma wants to return to prominence others are going to have to step in and up.
On Wednesday night, at home, all the Panthers did exactly that as they dominated visiting Bridgeport in straight sets, winning by scores of 25-8, 25-7, 25-8.
With the win the Panthers improve to 8- 4 overall and to 1-1 in the ever-tough TVC.
A couple weeks into the 2020 season long-time head coach Kristi Lippert is optimistic, yet she also knows it’s a long haul and her team is going to need to improve significantly in the coming weeks to reach its goals of winning a conference title and district title.
To her it’s a matter of consistency because inorder tomake a run at thetvc title the Panthers are going to have to be consistent night-in and night- out. In Alma’s TVC opener versus Essexville- Garber the Panthers got swept in straight sets, falling especially hard in the third set 258. Yet, onwednesday, they were very good in their win over an over-matched Bridgeport team. So what gives?
“Look at our conference, it’s tough,” said Lippert. “Frankenmuth is tough every year, same for Birch Run and Garber. We have the talent and the athleticism, but our biggest struggle is consistency. We have to remain consistent. There are times where we look absolutely fantastic, and at other times we lose our mental focus a little bit which leads to a different story.
“We definitely have the personnel to do it.”
As of right now the Panthers have only had a couple weeks of indoor practice, a byproduct of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, the same holds true for hundreds of teams in the state of Michigan.
“It was really difficult for us when we were outside practicing on the tennis courts. It’s kind of a late-to-the-game start, but we’re starting to hit our stride where we’re improving every day. We’re just taking it one Wednesday at a time as far as conference is concerned and then we’re going to try to put it together at the end of the season once districts start.”
On paper the Panthers have a ton of talented players all over the court. Some are role players, some are youngsters like freshman setter Adison Green and sophomore Jada Munro.
If Lippert can get it to mesh Alma has huge potential this fall and will be a team worth watching going forward.