The Morgan County volleyball team has been getting a lot of practice over the course of the summer.
Whether it’s with the high school team or outside club teams, the girls on the Bulldogs’ roster have shown they might already be ready for the season.
MCHS head coach Kat Goodwin expressed how impressed she is with the girls’ ability to work on their skills on their own time.
“Our practice schedule was only a couple times a week. The girls are just motivated on their own in terms of getting volleyball in,” Goodwin said. “We’ve used our time together to work on the team chemistry, and to start working on rotations.”
Furthermore, the Bulldogs have hosted and attended events where they were able to scrimmage some of the best competition in the area, including schools like Oconee County, Westminster Christian Academy and George Walton Academy, among others.
Goodwin explained that each time the Bulldogs faced an opponent during summer competition, the two teams would play only two sets, regardless of whether they split or not. However, Morgan County has played eight total sets up to this point and has won all of them.
Goodwin acknowledged how well the Bulldogs have played and is excited to see more progression.
“The team looks good. It’s a pretty talented crew we have this year, and I was really happy with how they played,” Goodwin said. “Of course, there are always areas that need to continue to grow, which is a great problem to have. I always say we don’t want to come out on Day 1 and be perfect, because then what does that mean for the rest of the season.”
The Spike Dogs continue to work on the fundamentals and their offensive attack.
Goodwin believes it will be the Bulldogs speed and intensity that will win them games down the stretch.
“We have a really talented offense, and in volleyball, there’s a lot of different speeds to play at,” Goodwin said. “We’re working on a fast offense that involves quick passes and quick sets to try and throw teams off guard. That comes along with really working on our positioning, and making sure we can compete at that fast level.”
The Bulldogs finished 29-15 last season, went a perfect 12-0 in their region and show no signs of slowing down heading into this upcoming year.
Even though the team graduated four seniors, it returns six of its seven varsity starters from last season’s squad, which made a deep playoff run.
The Bulldogs made it to the Elite Eight round of the GHSA Class AAA state playoffs before getting knocked out by Cherokee Bluff.
Goodwin also recognized that the Spike Dogs have multiple players, young and old, who have stepped up and shown leadership in the locker room.
“I don’t think of volleyball as a replacement sport, I think of it as, this is a new crew and how can we make this work,” Goodwin said. “We’re really fortunate to have a really solid senior leadership class, and are bringing in a couple of freshmen and [junior varsity] players as well.”
Ultimately, Goodwin believes the Spike Dogs control their own destiny this year and have the potential to make another deep run in the state playoffs.