Coming off a first-ever trip to the AHSAA Elite Eight volleyball championships last year in Pelham, the 2011 T.R. Miller Lady Tiger volleyball looks to build on that experience for their upcoming season.
But what is missing is a key group of seniors from that 2010 group.
“Overall, we lost five senior off last year’s team and that is going to be tough to replace,” White said. “It is tough when you lose that many at one time and they all played a lot and contributed so we are losing five key members from last year that had a real good season.”
With that being said, White said there are folks behind those five that will make for a pretty solid 2011 team.
“The only problem is lack of varsity playing experience,” White said. “They had some JV and middle school games, but the lack of varsity experience overall is the key. I think when we get some games under our belt and when they start playing together, they will gel. It might take us a few games this season to get to that point, but I have several options for players at several positions. My lineup has several options and that is a good thing.”
White has five seniors on the team and three juniors with 14 other underclassmen.
One senior is Haley Brown.
“She played setter for us and played some on varsity last year,” White said. “She has some varsity experience and will be counted on to be one of our varsity setters this year. She is a very good server.”
Leah Brundidge is another senior.
“She has played varsity the last two years and player setter the last two years,” White said. “We moved her to the outside this year and she will be an outside hitter for us this year. We are looking for some good things from her out there.”
Taylor Guthrie is the third senior for the Lady Tigers this year.
“We have had her for two years also,” White said. “We will have her in the middle and I look for good things out of her this year.”
Amber Nelson is another senior for the Lady Tigers this season.
“She will also play in the middle this year,” White said. “She split time last year and she played mostly front row last year and we are trying to get her to play the full rotation this year. We look for her to step up and contribute for us this year.”
Miranda McNamara rounds out the seniors for T.R. Miller this year.
“Miranda was on the varsity team last year and did not get a lot of playing time,” White said. “Hopefully she will get more time this year on the varsity level. She will be an outside hitter for us this year.”
White said he has three juniors this year on the team in Lauren Ward, Laurel Billy, and Lauren Bradley.
“Lauren played varsity last year and played outside hitter and we moved her to setter,” White said. “That turned out to be a really good move. We expect her to be a top setter this year. Laurel played mostly JV last year. She played two or three years for us and hopefully she can step up and be an outside hitter for us this year. Lauren Bradley plays middle and we need her to step up and help us on varsity as a middle player.”
White said the summer went real well for his team.
“It was a little different for us,” White said. “We went two days a week every week and we had the fourth of July off. We had some extra days off due to my girl being in the softball regional for all stars. Participation was wonderful and everyone was here. The ones that were not here, I knew where they were at. Some had vacation, church trips and that sort of thing, but other than that, summer workouts went well overall. I was very proud of summer workouts. We got a lot done and I hope the conditioning will help us this fall.”
For the schedule and area for T.R. Miller, White says the schedule is very similar to last year.
“We did pick up a few more tri-matches and only doing one tournament,” White said. “We have three more tri-matches. The area remains the same but we did pick up Excel. They started this year and will play a limited schedule. Then we have to go through state champion Bayside. Clarke County will be solid again and then we have Washington County also. We will play Andalusia and Greenville, two bigger schools in a tri-match and then we picked up Elba and Opp. It is a little different scheduling. We are trying to play some bigger schools and step up in competition.”
White said later in the season, they will play in a tournament at Clarke County.
“We will play them on a Saturday and then we have the county tournament at W.S. Neal,” White said. “We think we can compete with our schedule pretty well. If we do things the right way and work hard, I think we can win some games along the way.”
The 2011 T.R. Miller Lady Tiger volleyball team will begin their season Thursday, Aug. 18 on the road at first-year volleyball team Excel.
The 2011 schedule for the Lady Tigers shows 17 varsity games with nine home and eight away. Of the 17 matches, six will be tri-matches and the Lady Tigers will play in two tournaments.
Along with varsity matches, the JV team will play nine matches and the middle school team will play six with one doubleheader.
Area opponents for T.R. Miller in 2011 will be defending repeat state champion Bayside Academy, Clarke County, Washington County, and first-year volleyball team Excel.
Here is the complete 2011 schedule for T.R. Miller:
• Thursday, Aug. 18, Excel, Away, JV-4: 30 p.m./V-5: 30 p.m.
• Monday, Aug. 22, Andalusia and Greenville, Home, 4 p.m. Andalusia/6 p.m. Greenville (tri-match)
• Tuesday, Aug. 23, Monroe County, Away, JV-4: 30 p.m./ V-5: 30 p.m.
• Thursday, Aug. 25, Flomaton, Home, MS-4 p.m./JV-5 p.m./V-6 p.m.
• Monday, Aug. 29, Bayside and Clarke County, Home, 4:30 p.m. Bayside / 6:30 p.m. Clarke Co. (tri-match)
• Tuesday, Aug 30, W.S. Neal, Away, MS-4 p.m./ JV-5 p.m./ Varsity-6 p.m.
• Thursday, Sept. 8, Jay, Home, 4 p.m.
• Thursday, Sept. 8, Excel, Home, JV-5: 30 p.m./ V-6: 30 p.m.
• Tuesday, Sept. 13, Flomaton, Away, MS-4 p.m./ JV-5 p.m./ V-6 p.m.
• Thursday, Sept. 15, Pleasant Home, Home, JV-3: 30 p.m./ MS- 4:30/ V-5: 30 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 17, Clarke Co. Tournament, Grove Hill, TBA
• Monday, Sept. 19, Bayside and Washington County, Away (Bayside), 4:30 p.m. Bayside / 5:30 p.m. Washington Co. (tri-match)
• Thursday, Sept. 22, McCall, Home, MS only 4/5 p.m. (double header)
• Tuesday, Sept. 27, Clarke County and Washington County, Away (Grove Hill), 4 p.m. Clarke Co. / 5 p.m. Washington Co. (tri-match)
• Thursday, Sept. 29, W.S. Neal, Home, MS-4 p.m./ JV-5 p.m./ V- 6 p.m.
• Monday, Oct. 3, Elba and Andalusia, Away (Daphne), 4 p.m. Andalusia / 5 p.m. Elba (tri-match)
• Tuesday, Oct. 4, Monroe Co., Home, JV-4: 30 p.m./ V-5: 30 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 6, Pleasant Home and Opp, Away (Pleasant Home), 4 p.m. Pleasant Home / 5 p.m. Opp (tri-match)
• Saturday, Oct. 8, Escambia Co. Tournament, Away (W.S. Neal), TBA
• Monday, Oct. 10, Area tournament, TBA
• TBA, Regional tournament, TBA
• TBA, Sub-state, TBA
• TBA, State tournament, Pelham, TBA