Lady Pirates Show Great Promise for 2018 season with Preseason Scrimmage
August 17, 2018
Independence, Kan. - With volleyball season right around the corner and a lot of new faces on the roster, the Lady Pirates were eager to prove just how talented they are despite their mass number of youth.
Independence competed in four scrimmages throughout the day with each competition having a one hour time limit.
The Lady Pirates would prove their talent to be top notch as they would go 2-0-2 on the day against some very intense competition.
In the first scrimmage, Independence faced off against an NAIA squad, the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles. The Lady Pirates would battle to a 1-1 tie and led 11-9 in the third set as time expired.
Next up was the defending 2017 NJCAA Champions, the Coffeyville Red Ravens. Independence would battle in the first set but drop a close finish. In the second set, the Lady Pirates battled and eventually sparked a comeback to tie the match at 1-1. As time expired in the match's third set it was a fight to the finish, but Independence would come up just short, 10-15.
In the third match of the day, the Lady Pirates faced fierce competition in the Labette Cardinals. The Cardinals proved to be a worthy opponent, but Independence was finally able to put everything together, closing out their opponents with a 2-0 victory.
In the final match of the day, Independence faced yet another NAIA opponent, the Langston Lions in a thriller. The Lady Pirates led for most of the first set convincingly and even though the Lions appeared to be on the comeback trail, it was Independence that pulled out the first set victory that lasted for the majority of the time period.
In the second set, Langston looked to tie it up at one set a piece but as the clock expired the Lady Pirates would deny them that feat holding them two points short of a complete set.
"The competition today helped us see how the players respond to such great competition such as defending national champions, Coffeyville." "We need to improve our communication. We had lots of drop balls and communication struggles on the court as well as our blocking," head coach Daniela Pena said.
"Blocking was a bit deficient in some of our completion today, but we used various rotations today to get experience for everyone, but overall I thought the team did very well adjusting to the tasks at hand and as long as we continue to compete like we did today against the two NAIA opponents we will only continue to get better as the season progresses."
"I was very pleased with the performances and efforts of Anachariz Cruz and Hannia Rios," Pena said. "The pace of the game is controlled by the setters and they are both very flexible players that adjust very well to every single match and are able go from one position to another to change the pace of the competition and motivate their teammates to keep pushing forward."
"I think it was very good to have played this type of caliber competition and that we got to see some great competition to prepare us for the regular season," said Cruz. "We can definitely improve with our communication on the court and make better plays."
"All of the teams that we faced today were very good and so we have to work harder every day in practice to continue our success."
"We faced some great competition today to prepare us for the rest of the season," Rios said. "We can always improve are communication, because you must have communication in order to be a successful unit."
"Coming off of today, we need to practice hard everyday and play more cohesively. If we can find that groove we will be very hard to beat."
The Lady Pirates will travel to Butler, Kansas tomorrow to scrimmage against the Butler Grizzlies before kicking off the regular season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Tuesday in Miami, Oklahoma.