Kosciusko entered last Thursday’s matchup against Lanier down a starter in Amiyah Greer, which prompted Lady Whippets head coach Lauren Peresich to turn to seventh-grader Makynlee Dickerson in Greer’s absence.
Lanier earned the win, but Peresich was more than pleased with the effort shown by her team, and more specifically, the emergence of Dickerson.
“Having three days to learn all the rotations and learn her role on the court, I think she did very well,” Peresich said of the youngster.
Lanier earned wins of 25-15, 25-15 and 25-22 to send Kosciusko to 0-3 in its inaugural volleyball season. The Lady Whippets are battling opponents and the nuances of the game each week, but Peresich said there has been progression.
At the beginning of the season, she said her players used a more aggressive, defensive style of play against their opponents. However, with each game, they are learning to be more patient and establish a rhythm with their possessions.
“When we first started, I compared it to a ping-pong match because every single time the (ball) came over to our side, they would try to knock it over to the other side,” Peresich said. “So we’ve been working on trying to get three hits on our side — pass it, set it and hit it. I’ve showed them some film where the majority of points we get are from when we pass it, set it and hit it, rather than just playing ping-pong back and forth.”
Lady Whippet film sessions have also been instrumental, as they have allowed the team to get a bird’s-eye view of the action and see things they’ve might have missed in the heat of the moment of games.
“I’ve been seeing them play more strategic lately rather than just try to hit the ball really hard,” Peresich said.
Kosciusko’s last three opponents — Nanih Waiya, Noxapater and Lanier — are all programs with at least one year of volleyball experience at the varsity level. While the level of competition has helped the Lady Whippets hone their skills, the difference in talent has turned out unsurprising results.
This week, Kosciusko will face a pair of teams of equal experience. The Lady Whippets have a pair of road contests against Louisville (Tuesday) and Winston County Academy (Thursday). Louisville is in its second year is of varsity volleyball, as is Winston County Academy.
“(Louisville) is in our district, and I feel like that is going to be a pretty good competition between us since we’re fairly new teams,” Peresich said. “(Winston Academy) is going to be a good competitor, and we will hopefully be able to compete with them, as well.”
