Keith volleyball enters season with playoff expectations
Published 8:31 pm Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Keith junior Alyshia Boone practices spiking with her teammates as they prepare for their first match on Thursday at Autaugaville.
By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal
The Keith Bears are coming off a season in which they enjoyed a trip to the playoffs. This season, head coach Towanna Flennory has much higher expectations for her team.
“We’re not going to do what we did last year,” Flennory said. “We want to be better than we were last year.”
The Keith girls’ volleyball team opens its season at Autaugaville Thursday at 5 p.m. The Bears’ varsity squad, which consists of four seventh-graders and only one senior, exceeded expectations last season with a 7-6 record in the first season of Keith volleyball in over three years.
Flennory is ready to make a playoff run this season after losing in the first round of the playoffs last season. She isn’t concerned about her team’s youth because she knows how far her team has come since last year.
Nearly everyone on the team, including Flennory, learned the game of volleyball from scratch last season. Flennory and the team spent much of last season studying the game while other teams were able to focus on playing. This summer, the team has been able to focus more on perfecting the fundamentals.
The Bears have learned to play together as a team and Flennory, a Keith graduate, has learned more about her players.
“Now I kind of know what they can and can’t do. I know everybody’s strengths and weaknesses.”
The Bears’ roster looks different than other teams they will play. Two seventh-grade players in Akese Jones and Ieshia Carson are major contributors on the team.
Keith also has a player who has won a basketball state championship at Keith in junior co-captain Alyshia Boone. Junior captain Kendra Jones and Boone do more than just provide sparks on the court.
Jones and Boone are the vocal leaders of the group and also assist Flennory in her coaching role for the younger players on the team.
Flennory is confident this team can accomplish something special this season.
“We have the talent,” Flennory said. “If I could just keep them focused and get out there and play to our potential, then we’ll be fine.”
