Kimball volleyball head coach Vicki Mitchell emphasizing the importance of teamwork in season's second half

Second-year Kimball volleyball head coach Vicki Mitchell is looking ahead to the season’s second half coming off one of the team’s most challenging weeks.

“We’re looking at this as the second half of the season now, and the first half was us maturing. I’ve got two seniors out and two juniors. I have four upperclassmen where some of these teams we play have seven seniors. I have four total upperclassmen and 18 sophomores and freshman. So that’s what you’re seeing on some of these spurts. It’s just the consistency of play,” Mitchell said.

The team is coming off a week in which they showcased their scrappy style of play and their tremendous heart - both of which Mitchell was impressed by, although she admits there is still work to do - as there is with every team.

“When you look at that, and then in my rotation, I’m playing up to five sophomores and right now I have a freshman back in the rotation,” Mitchell said “While other teams are playing seniors and juniors, I do have some on the court, but I also have five sophomores that play. We’re young and that’s where you see those spurts. We’ll run off seven points and then we’ll fall apart for a while. It’s because we’re young.”

With a light workload this week in terms of games, Mitchell and her team will look to work on something she believes can set them apart from competition - a team unity.

“Our focus right now, for the rest of the season, is to come together as a team, because they can beat individuals,” Mitchell said. “Anybody can beat us individually, but if we can come together as a team, it’s going to take an awful tough team to beat us. That’s our biggest job for the rest of the year.”

The Kimball Lady Longhorns will return to action on Tuesday, October 8 when they take on Bayard and Potter-Dix in a triangular of reserve and varsity play.