Oakwood Christian, Gordon Lee volleyball gear up to ace upcoming season
For many years now, the Oakwood Christian Lady Eagles have been at or the near the top of the Southern Christian Athletic Association when it comes to volleyball.
OCA has four conference titles and a handful of runner-up finishes in the past nine seasons of the program’s existence. But with the team starting its 10th anniversary season this fall, the Lady Eagles are set to celebrate the milestone in a unique way.
Yes, the Navy-and-Gold will be back in the SCAA this season, looking to defend last year’s conference crown. However, the Lady Eagles will actually be looking to win two separate conference championships in 2019 as OCA will field an entirely different varsity roster that will compete amongst teams in the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools (GAPPS, formerly the GICAA) conference.
Head coach Celina Green said the main reason for the move is to challenge the players and hopefully make them better.
“We’re also about expanding out and playing different teams in the state of Georgia,” Green said. “Both teams will have small rosters, but everybody will get to play a lot and they’re at the point where (the girls) need to play a lot. They don’t need to be sitting on the bench.”
The Lady Eagles’ GAPPS team will include and be led by Lexie Asher, the only senior in the OCA program and last year’s team MVP.
“Lexie has been playing for a long time,” Green explained. “She’s a strong outside hitter and she’s also an excellent passer. We’re going to depend on her to be able to pass out of the back row as well.”
Juniors Olivia Guest and Lily Green will both play middle hitter roles. Guest could also see quite a bit of time on the back row as a defensive specialist, while Green is the top blocker on the team and will be heavily counted on to provide defense at the net.
The rest of the roster includes sophomores Anslee Tucker, McKenley Baggett and Avery Green. Tucker is a very quick back row player seeing her first full season on a varsity roster. Baggett is an athletic outside hitter that has become one of the team’s top power providers, while Green will fill the setter position left vacant by the graduation of last year’s lone senior, Mary Ownby.
“The key will be playing together and learning to adapt to new competition and tougher competition quickly,” the coach said.
The rest of the girls in the OCA high school program will look to add to the school’s collection of SCAA championship banners.
Juniors Raleigh Suits and Elliana Hammond have plenty of experience and will be good leaders for the younger players. Both players are outside hitters, but are solid all-around players that have both shown good improvement with their serves.
Three freshmen, Natalie Overton, Anna Grace Stone and Caroline Tindell, all played on OCA Middle School’s ISC Final Four team a year ago. Overton, who plays offseason club ball, will split time at outside hitter and on the back row, Stone is a defensive specialist and Tindell will play in the middle of the front row. Sophomore Aby Whitlock is the new face on the roster and Green said her new setter has shown to have a tremendous work ethic.
“The key for them will be getting confidence working together,” Green added.
“They are also going to have to hit the ball really well too.
“Everybody (in the program) has been playing for a while. We’ve got some experience, even though some of them are still young. (Most of them) came up through the middle school, so the experience of most of them playing together is a strength.
“The girls here (at OCA) love volleyball. They learn how to play it in P.E. in elementary school and by the time they hit middle school, they’re jumping right into playing. I think we have an awesome chance in both region tournaments this year. I think that we have enough strength on both teams to be very competitive in both leagues.”