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The Columbus Lady Cardinals defeated the St. Joseph Flyers in two straight sets on Thursday, Aug. 14, in Columbus.
They played two sets because they are playing in the Columbus Volleyball Classic and the matches are a bit shorter in some games.
The Lady Cards played well though both sets coming back to win both times as St. Joseph jumped out to early leads in both sets. They battled back and picked up a big win early in the season and head coach Kayley Johns said she likes what she is seeing so far.
“One thing I like seeing so far this year is that even if we are behind our team is staying composed. We work on our short-term memory a lot and the girls like to say, ‘Don’t make more chaos when there is chaos’ so it’s good to see that composure especially this early in the year,” Johns said. “I love our senior leadership, and I think we have some really good chemistry amongst the girls, and they have big goals, and they want to go big time this year.”
As for the kinks in the Lady Cards game currently Johns said that she sees them but is not too concerned. They have a ton of returning players from last season and is fully confident that they will get cleaned up.
“We have our kinks but with the leadership on this team I am confident that it will get better sooner rather than later.” Johns said. “These girls love to work and want to get better and that is our motto this year, ‘1% better every day’ and they have really bought into that.”
Johns also said her team has been really good at staying positive and how her team has been building each other up. She said they always have each other’s back and always make sure that they stay focused on the next ball.
Lastly, the Lady Cards’ communication on the court was one of the best throughout the entire tournament. They were not scared to be vocal with one another, and it paid off as it was a big reason why they came back against St. Joseph’s.
“We as coaches are always screaming about communication at practice, so I am glad to see it is rubbing off on them,” Johns said with a chuckle. “We call it the little things because it can be the difference between winning and losing a game and they understand that.”
The Lady Cards will continue to work through their tournament schedule as they look to stack up wins and prepare for their district schedule.
