Expectations remain high for Gordon Lee volleyball
Tricia Goodwin has enjoyed plenty of success in her three years as coach at Gordon Lee High School.
Her first two teams won area titles in Class AA, advancing to the Elite Eight both times, while last year’s team was area runner-up to Class A private school stalwart Mt. Paran Christian and won a playoff game before falling to another private school in Landmark Christian.
Goodwin has also had some outstanding players that have helped the Lady Trojans record 93 wins over that three-year span.
Gordon Lee will go into the 2017 season minus four seniors that were the backbone for those teams. Three of the four signed on to play in college and they were also among the state and national leaders in more than one statistical category.
But Goodwin is confident that this year’s team will rise to the occasion and keep the Gordon Lee train rolling smoothly down the tracks.
“There are always holes to fill when you graduate people with that kind of talent, but we have a lot of experience coming back,” she said. “I’m only pulling up two players who didn’t play on the varsity team last year, so the majority of the team is well-seasoned. They understand our style of play and they know what we’re trying to accomplish. I think we’re going to be fine, it’s just making all those pieces mesh together without the pieces that left.”
She said that kind of experience is a strength.
“These girls have been playing together, school ball and club ball, for years now,” she continued. “We just have to have it all come together from a leadership standpoint without having those (graduated) seniors here.”
Goodwin said she expects that leadership to come from several sources, but most notably from her two seniors, Aubree Yancey and Summer Fitzpatrick.
Yancey, the team’s returning starter at middle hitter, racked up 189 kills, 174 digs and 48 aces last year, while her 160 blocks were sixth-most in the state of Georgia in all classifications. Fitzpatrick, an outside hitter, finished 2016 with 68 kills, 51 aces, 31 blocks and 231 digs.
‘I’m expecting huge things out of Aubree this year, as long as our setting stays on point,” Goodwin explained. “She will be a go-to person and an authoritative presence on the court. Summer has played on varsity for four years now and she’s a leader based on her personality anyway, so moving into that senior role is natural for her. I’m expecting big things
out of them, leadershipwise, and I think they’ll fill those spots just fine.”
The lone junior on the varsity roster is middle hitter Delaney Bridges. Bridges enjoyed a breakout season as a sophomore with 81 kills, 88 blocks and 65 digs and looks primed for a big year in 2017.
Another big season is also expected from sophomore outside hitter Gracie O’Neal, the 2016-2017 Walker County Female Athlete of the Year. O’Neal stepped right in as a rookie and delivered 187 kills, 149 digs and 25 blocks.
Of the remainder of the sophomores, Madison Mayberry has the biggest shoes to fill. Mayberry had 476 digs a year ago, but will take over the libero position that Hannah Lee held down for the past four years. Lee led all of Georgia with 960
digs last year, a total that ranked her eighth nationally.
The rest of the class includes defensive specialist-turned-setter Sally Thomison and Maribeth Blalock, who will move from outside hitter to setter this season. Mallory Collier is also a setter, while varsity newcomer Casey Wilson will see time as an outside hitter.
The varsity roster will be completed by freshman defensive specialist Annie McDaniel.
Katie Roden will be back to assist Goodwin from the bench and they will be joined by firstyear assistant Adam Crowley.
“Summer said the other day that she was really impressed with how we looked so far and that we were really filling in the holes with those (graduated) players not being here,” Goodwin said. “So the fact that they have confidence in themselves just helps the whole thing come together. We will
have new setters doing new things, but I think they’ll be seasoned enough to do it. We have three that can set and that kind of depth helps.”
As usual, the Lady Trojans expect to be among the top squads in the northwest Georgia area and they expect to challenge defending champion Mt. Paran for the area title based on their talent, their athleticism and, most of all, their experience.
“There’s no real teaching this year,” Goodwin added. “We don’t have to tell them where to go or what the game plan is. They know what to do because most of them playethe positions they were in last year. The only real difference is that they are going to play more than they have in the past. As long as we gel, I think we’ll be okay.”
The Lady Trojans are slated to play at Sonoraville on Tuesday before hosting Ridgeland and Armuchee on Thursday.