Tourneys have Lady Dragons ready for start of district

The Southlake Carroll volleyball team has grown accustomed to success, and 2016 should be no different.

The Lady Dragons were 14-2 on the season heading into Tuesday night’s game, and with its district opener against L.D. Bell looming in the very near future, coach Ryan Mitchell said his team is ready to make another strong run.

“Our district will be tough this year with the defending state champ Hebron in the district along with several other tough teams,” Mitchell said. “A tough district will further prepare our team for the playoffs.”

One of the ways the Lady Dragons prepared for the district season was a trip earlier this month to Hawaii, to compete in a tournament comprised largely of Hawaiian and Californian teams.

“We wanted an opportunity to see different styles of play from schools from California and Hawaii,” Mitchell said. “We have a senior-heavy group that we thought would benefit from such an experience.”

Carroll defeated Hawaii Baptist Academy, Kahuku High School and Iolani High School at the tournament.

Senior setter Lisie Kit said the experience was incredible and said it was a very different experience then what the Lady Dragons are typically used to.

“The volleyball was a totally different style,” Kit said. “Texas is more of a first ball side out (with) power hitters because everyone’s just bigger and stronger, but in Hawaii and Cali (where most of the teams were from) they all play beach, so it’s much more scrappy with longer rallies. Outside of volleyball, we had a blast at many different beaches, Pearl Harbor, waterfalls and hikes.”

Kit said that in terms of preparation for the district season, the tournament in Hawaii definitely fulfilled its purpose.

“Hawaii exposed us to different types of volleyball and had a very high level against almost all teams — there were no give away easy matches,” Kit said. “We have another tournament this weekend that should prepare us more for district as its our third and final tournament. We haven’t had much time to practice because I feel like we’ve just been playing games 24/7 so it’ll be good to rest up again and focus on practice before district starts.”

Carroll reached the regional quarterfinals in 2015, and Kit said the repeat upon that kind of season, the veteran players are going to have to set a good example.

“I think it will take strong leadership, especially from the seniors because that is over half of the team,” Kit said. “This year, we have a very tough district compared to the years past, so we will have to focus more and can’t think ahead — have to be ‘here and now’ for each game.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Tourneys have Lady Dragons ready for start of district."