The Lake Oconee Academy volleyball team is finishing up its offseason in preparation for the 2022 season.
LOA head coach Chris Ingle always has high hopes of entering every season and says this one will be no different, even though the Titans find themselves in a new area this year.
“For the past several years, we’ve always started with high expectations. Our goal is to win the area championship and to try and secure the No. 1 seed for the playoffs,” Ingle said. “It’s a completely different area this year, so we haven’t played a few of these teams before, but we’re looking forward to new competition.”
To get ready for their new schedule, the Titans have been practicing four days a week most of the summer. They have mainly focused on the fundamentals up to this point, but are also working on building the team’s chemistry to make it feel more like “family.”
Losing graduating seniors always leaves holes in a team, but Ingle acknowledged that some of the returning players have already begun to fill leadership roles.
“We lost our two captains from last year, but several girls have stepped up to fill in those roles,” Ingle said. “It’s a different team every year, but we really have high hopes for the season, and definitely will be a different type of team.”
Last year, the Titans ended the regular season 18-15 after going 6-3 and finishing third in area competition.
They eventually fell to Lovett in the Elite Eight of the GHSA State Tournament; however, the team has a lot of experienced girls coming back with 10 varsity players returning to the squad.
Ingle expressed that in just his fifth year coaching the program, Lake Oconee Academy volleyball has continuously developed as a whole, and he believes that will eventually lead to more success down the road, even if the results aren’t seen right away.
“When I started here, we had eight players, all varsity, in the entire school. We ended last year with a full middle-school team, a full JV team, a full varsity team and even a sixth-grade intramural team,” Ingle said. “In four years, we’ve gone from eight players to 88 players, which is what I’m most proud of, more so than any one accomplishment.”
The Titans had to face multiple schools that were larger in size last season but come into this season slated only to play Class-A schools, which they hope will result in a deeper playoff run.