After season debut, Tift volleyball sets home match for Aug. 18

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, August 17, 2022

TIFTON — Tift County volleyball will open the home schedule Thursday with a 6 p.m. match against Lowndes.

The Lady Devils opened the 2022 campaign Aug. 11 with a pair of matches against Valdosta, one against Valdosta High and the other versus Highland Christian. After falling 2 sets to 1 against the Lady Wildcats, Tift evened its record at 1-1, defeating Highland in straight sets.

For the first time in their varsity history, the Lowndes contest won’t pair two region opponents. Tift is is in Region 1-6A this year and will open that portion of the schedule Sept. 20. That format will be a bit different this year, according to head coach Caleb Dawson.

“This region does things differently,” he said. Instead of the Saturday region playdates of 1-7A that brought together all four schools at each school site, Dawson and crew will see their region opponents — Lee County, Northside of Warner Robins, Veterans, Houston County and Thomas County Central — once each before the tournament.

“We’ll go to Houston County one time and play three of the five teams,” he said. At Northside, they will play the other two region opponents.

The tournament will be held at one of the schools in Houston County, which has a much bigger gym to seat fans. “It’s going to be tough,” Dawson admits. It will be a change for his players in another way. From 2018-21, Tift automatically qualified for state because four teams from each region qualified for the big dance and there were only four teams in Tift’s region. They will have earn their way to state this year.

A new region should not effect what the Lady Devils have been accomplishing in recent years. The squad won its first ever region championship in 2020 and finished second in the region last year.

“We’ve got some experience,” Dawson said. Of his seniors, one is a three-year starter and most of the others have significant starting experience. Kylei Cutts has started the longest. Janie Ragsdale would be a three-year starter, but missed all of 2021 with an injury. Laurie Walters and Heidi Robinson have significant playing time, with only Trell Harp as a relative newcomer.

They will have more varsity experience overall, he said.

Dawson said they had been busy all summer preparing. Tift hosted its first ever youth camp and also attended a team camp.