Mooresville’s volleyball team graduated a lot of talented individuals from the 2009 team.
The Blue Devils have counteracted that for 2010 by relying on every team member to increase her responsibility.
So far, it’s working. Mooresville (5-0 overall, 2-0 I-Meck 4A) hasn’t lost a match yet.
“In all honesty, the girls that we lost last year were kind of the core of our team,” Blue Devils coach Katie Higgins said. “We lost our libero, our setter and our middle hitter. We kind of just had to work on everything.”
That really includes defense. Heather Wagner, maybe the best libero in the county, was one of several key players who graduated.
She’s now at Belmont Abbey, but someone else has to account for all those digs.
“We have not yet used a libero,” Higgins said. “We’re still working it out. It’s been a whole team effort defensively and in general. There’s been a lot of strategy and being smarter players. That’s what we’re focusing on.”
The week ahead
The Blue Devils will be favored on the volleyball court Tuesday when it hosts West Charlotte.
Then comes a tough stretch.
In order, Mooresville plays on the road against Hopewell, Hough and North Meck. Then the Blue Devils come back home, only to play Lake Norman to end the first leg of conference play.
Those four teams are the toughest in the league.
North Meck nearly went to the state championship last season, but lost a lot of its players due to redistricting for Hough, a brand-new school.
Hopewell made it to the regional semifinals last season, and Lake Norman has just lost once in 2010.
“We would like to see ourselves contending for the top-three,” Higgins said. “I still think Hough is probably going to be pretty good, and North Meck will get some of those kinks out. And I think Mallard Creek is good, too. We have a lot of good teams in this conference.”
An eye opener
Mooresville’s young boys cross country team got a look at some elite competition last week at McAlpine Park in Charlotte.
And what a look it was.
The Blue Devils were one of nearly 40 teams to compete at the Providence Invitational.
“We’re going to race at McAlpine a lot this year, so that was one reason for running it,” coach Michael Royal said. “But it was also kind of an eye-opening experience for a lot of the younger kids. Most of the freshmen only had around 30 kids or so for middle school meets. This meet had 36 teams in it.”
The Blue Devils, who are closer to getting healthy and being at 100 percent, will run their next 5K race Sept. 21 at the Statesville Invitational.
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