Heading into Union’s first volleyball season, head coach Jacob Casey didn’t know what to expect.
But he talked with his team and they came up with three goals for the season. The first was to win nine games. The second was to win the division title and the third was to make the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.
The Lady Yellowjackets accomplished all three of those this season, one that came to an end last week when the Lady Yellowjackets lost to Puckett 3-0 in the second round of the playoffs.
For Casey, who has been the softball coach at Union for eight years, it was an enjoyable fall coaching a new sport.
“I really, really enjoyed it,” Casey said. “It was really fun and the kids enjoyed it. We improved tremendously from when we started to when we finished. We would have loved to kept playing but ran into a really good Puckett team. Overall, it was a tremendous experience and we are looking forward to getting back after it next year.”
Casey said it was easy to see Union’s growth on the volleyball court. The Lady Yellowjackets opened the season with a 3-0 loss to West Lauderdale. But they finished up the season by taking a 3-0 win over the same West Lauderdale team.
“I thought we got better in every aspect of the game,” Casey said. “That’s a testament to the kids. They worked their tales off throughout the year. They got better at controlling the ball and if you are going to be any good at volleyball, you have to control the ball. We got where we could serve a lot better and got to where we were able to communicate a lot better. When you start from scratch, you expect a lot of growth and that’s what we saw this year.”
Casey said he was proud that the team finished strong.
“We were 8-6 going into that last game with West Lauderdale,” Casey said. “That was senior night and that was our best performance of the season. They smoked us in the first game of the season, and I think that shows how much they improved this season.”
