Lady Jackets getting to work in early season

The Lady Jackets varsity volleyball team celebrated their first big win at an away game against a larger school last week.

After the varsity team ended their 2018 season being ranked fifth in the region and having a 1-32 (1-5 6-AA) season record, the players were excited to have two new coaches and a summer full of hard work and preparation before the start of their 2019 season last week.

Rockmart opened their season on August 13 with away games against Paulding County and Pepperell. The Lady Jackets unfortunately fell short against both opponents, but are looking forward to facing them each again later in the season.

Head Coach Krissie Jackson stated the games were great opportunities to practice the rotations and skills after conditioning and training all summer.

Unlike Rockmart, many other surrounding schools began their seasons on Aug. 6, giving those teams more time to fix small mistakes that are discovered during game play.

The AA Lady Jackets then traveled to North Paulding on Aug. 15 for a tri-match against the 7A home team, 6A Alexander, and 5A Carrollton.

Rockmart lost to North Paulding and Carrollton each 2-0, but earned their first win of the season against Alexander 2-0, with set scores of 25-19 and 25-22.

“It’s pretty amazing that we played so competitively against those big teams,” Jackson said.

Jackson noted that the team has improved in many areas, including basic skills like hitting and blocking, but more importantly on team skills such as communicating and working together.

She added that they will be focusing on improving their passing and understanding the overall flow of the rotation during the next few practices.

The Lady Jackets will be facing Chattooga in an away match on Aug. 20 at 5 p.m., then will have a short break from games before they face Pepperell again on Aug. 27 and host their first home games on Aug. 29 and annual tournament fundraiser on Aug. 31.