Defeating the 7A Gwinnett County Mountain View Bears in their first play day on Saturday, Aug. 13, the volleyball wolves have a promising start to their season. That same day the wolves also defeated Chattahoochee, a team they were unable to beat last season.
With six seniors on the team, the wolves have a lot of depth in almost every position this season.
Returning libero and senior Audrey Mangum, and returning middle blocker and senior Noni Thompkins, give the Wolves a strong defense that will be tough for many teams to play against.
Having a team that is almost 50% seniors allows for “more leadership on the court all at once,” Senior Abbey Gritters said. Gritters also said that “our different personalities and characteristics can all contribute something different to the team.”
After their first play day, the team was 2-2 only having played matches against 6A and 7A schools. Every year, the volleyball Wolves host the Elite Eight Playday as their first matches of the season. Coach Ted Russell said he does this intentionally “because the better the competition we play then it allows us to see what we need to work on as a team.”
Now that the Wolves have moved down to 1A, it should be easier for them to take care of business in their region this year.
The team has mostly returning varsity players and now that they have seen how well they can do under some of the toughest teams in the state, it should be no problem for them to keep up the good work against 1A teams.
When asked what she is most looking forward to about this season, Mangum said she is “excited to see how we come together as a team to push ourselves and keep up our never-quit mentality.”
