Seeking to rebuild

Lackey volleyball has just two returning seniors

While the school’s main gymnasium continues to be refurbished and modernized, players and coaches of the Lackey High School volleyball team conducted their first set of practices inside the considerably more cozy confines of the auxiliary gym where the Chargers took their first genuine rebuilding steps.

Lackey head coach Toni Ethington, now in her seventh season, has guided the squad to second-place finishes in the Potomac Division of the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference each of the past two seasons, but this fall she is only cautiously optimistic about the 2017 slate. The Chargers return only

two senior starters, Haley Wood and Megan Luskey, who also expressed mild reservations about the upcoming season.

“In each of the last two years we’ve been second behind La Plata in our division,” Ethington said. “But this year, with just two returning senior starters, I think we’ll probably be closer to mid-pack. We graduated a lot of good players, so this year we’re rebuilding. I don’t want them to downplay their goals and expectations, but I think a lot of our opponents probably think we’ll be down this year.”

Wood, who returns for her fourth season as the Chargers’ setter, expressed some cautious optimism heading into her final season with the squad.

Wood, who also plays basketball and softball for the school and plans to attend the College of Southern Maryland next fall and take the

first steps toward a nursing degree, knows the first two weeks of practice have gone a long way toward setting the stage for another good season.

“It’s been good getting to know all of the new girls on the team and looking to build that chemistry with them,” said Wood, who expects Luskey, Kate Kerzel, Alyson Roberts and Courtney Hawkins to be on the receiving ends of most of her sets. “I know that we have the talent to compete, but it’s going to take time to fully come together. But I know eventually it’s going to be a really good year.”

Luskey, who also plays softball for the Chargers during the spring, admits many of the new players have already bonded to form a cohesive group, which allowed her to view the season with more than a hint of optimism.

“This group of girls is really bonding together, on and off the court,” said Luskey, who also plans to attend CSM next fall and eventually garner a criminal justice degree at

Coastal Carolina. “We still have to improve on communicating on the floor, but the girls have really come together. I know Haley is going to get the ball to our hitters, but we really have to work on positioning and passing.”

Ethington agreed that Wood’s setting along with hitting and blocking skills provided by Luskey, Kerzel, Roberts and Hawkins would be noticeable from the outset. But with a new group of players, her main concern was the team’s defensive limitations on the back row and their ability to get the ball to Wood on a consistent basis.

“We definitely have to improve on serve-receive and passing,” said Ethington, who teaches all grade levels at the school in the Achievement Via Individual Determination program. “Our passes have to be good so that we can get the ball to Haley to run our plays. A lot of other teams probably think we’ll be in last place this year, but we should be in the middle somewhere.”