High hopes for women’s volleyball this season

by Emily McKeehan, Triangle staff writer

Though the Bryan College volleyball team appears to have had a bumpy start in its last two tournaments, Head Coach Leo Sayles says that he is still looking forward to a great season.

The Lady Lions have already played in two tournaments, the first of which was an unexpected trip on Aug. 28-29 to Milligan College’s Mountain Madness Tournament, where they competed against Milligan College(Elizabethton, Tenn.), Southern Virginia University (Buena Vista, Va.), University of the Cumberlands (Williamsburg, Ky.) and Shorter College (Rome, Ga.).

Though they lost 3-1, the team was missing several key players. According to Sayles, they didn’t have a mindset of winning or losing, but instead getting ready for the season.

During the second tournament on Sept. 4-5 at the Columbia-Best Western Tournament in Columbia, Mo., Sayles said that even though they lost 4-0, two of those games were close and could have been 2-2.

Sayles called this encouraging because of the incredible competition they were up against: Lindenwood University (St. Charles, Mo.), Missouri Baptist College (St. Louis, Mo.), and the host school, Columbia College (Columbia, Mo.).

Sayles was also encouraged by the performance of his players during the tournaments. Two of the Lady Lions, senior Amber Smith and junior Alison Young, received All-Tournament honors, Smith for both tournaments and Young for the first.

The Lady Lions currently are ranked behind Union in the Appalachian Athletic Conference standings, but Sayles said that the last two tournaments have taught the girls how to compete with incredible teams.

Now Sayles is looking forward to playing in conference games where wins and losses really matter. The Lady Lions are opening their regular season at home on Friday vs. the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and will also be playing Bluefield College (Bluefield, Va.) Saturday.

Sayles said this weekend will tell more about how the season will go, and he is hoping for a big crowd to support the team during their first conference games of the season.