Morgan County volleyball aims to repeat as state champions, and the team is off to a strong start this season.
The Spike Dogs have been on a tear recently, winning six out of their last eight entering the weekend.
Morgan County’s first-year head coach Alan Shultz believes his team is performing well near the season’s midpoint.
“We’re happy with how things have gone,” Shultz told Lake Oconee News.
He also mentioned that the level of competition his players have faced has helped them along the way.
“We’ve definitely beaten some solid opponents,” Shultz added. “We’re still improving, though.”
The Spike Dogs have played a tough schedule against opponents like Habersham Central, Winder-Barrow, White County, Athens Academy, Loganville Christian, Gainesville, Brookwood, Oconee County, and Mill Creek.
One key thing Shultz has learned about this season’s team is its resilience. The Spike Dogs have fallen behind several times during the season, but they’ve rallied and fought hard for a few wins.
“We’ve been down to some teams. We’ve actually had to come from behind and win a couple of times, and they’ve been pretty resilient,” he said. “I’ve been happy about that. And like I said, even in the matches we lost, they went down to the wire. So we haven’t rolled over and died against anybody. It’s been a battle ’til the end.”
A veteran group of seniors, including Camryn Scherer, Riley Mitchell, Abby Dennard, E’mariona Johnson, and Natalie Sills, leads the team. Their experience facing tough competition has proven valuable already this season.
Younger players, like Grace Cawthorn, Brayden Burke, and Hailey Floyd, have also stepped up and played well.
“Abby is one of our setters, but she’s also been one of our offensive leaders. But we’re really getting strong play from a lot of them,” Shultz said.
“Brayden had a really good week last week, some of her best hitting and serving that we’ve seen. Defensively, there are a lot of people contributing, including Riley and Camryn. It’s just been a good, solid team effort.
“We’re getting offense from a lot of different people right now and trying just to keep adding to that. We’re just working on a new offense, just trying to incorporate more and more.”
According to MaxPreps, Morgan County started the week ranked No. 2 in Class AA, behind Lovett, which will compete in the Class 3A/A Division I private school playoffs. The Spike Dogs are also ranked No. 31 overall in the state.
Shultz doesn’t want his players to get caught up in the rankings. He prefers them to focus on one match at a time.
According to Shultz, the team’s success in the region remains most important.
“The (region) matches we had last Thursday against Pike County and Callaway, although they weren’t as tough opponents as some other teams we’ve faced, were played very cleanly, and we looked really good against them,” Morgan County’s coach said. “So that was encouraging to see. Right now, we’re just working on trying to become a little more dynamic on offense and also just polishing our defense wherever we can.”