Volleyball teams begin two-a-days
Photo by David Kapitan
The Wills Point Lady Tigers will look to extend their streak of consecutive playoff appearances to a county-best seven seasons in 2018.
Van Zandt County volleyball and volleyball programs joined teams statewide last week, officially kicking off the rust from the long offseason with their first two-a-day workouts of the year.
Tiger athletic teams enjoyed a stellar 2017 with the volleyball program putting together its deepest playoff run in more than a decade by reaching the Regional Quarterfinal round and the football program claiming its second consecutive district championship en route to the bi-district round of the playoffs.
Lady Tigers
Wills Point fought back from the brink last season, saving their best volleyball of the year for the second half of district to sneak in as the fourth and final playoff qualifier from District 13-4A. The Lady Tigers, always competitive in the playoffs, more than held their own on the brightest stage pulling off five-set wins over Paris in the bi-district round and Gilmer in the Area round before falling just short against Carthage in the Regional Quarterfinals.
Graduation hit Wills Point hard but the Lady Tigers should remain competitive with the return of reigning District 13-4A Libero of the Year Jeslyn Martinez, and All-District Second Team performers Hope Turner and Olivia McMath.
Wills Point was slated to scrimmage in Kaufman Aug. 4 and Mineola Aug. 6 before traveling to take on Malakoff in the season opener Aug. 7.
The Lady Tigers will host some of the areas best teams at the Hardman/Watson Tournament Aug. 17-18 and open district play on the road Sept. 21 against the visiting Van Lady Vandals.
Tigers
The Wills Point Tigers proved themselves to be the class of District 6-4A over the past two seasons, posting a perfect 10-0 record on their way to back-to-back district titles. The road will likely become tougher the next two seasons with redistricting shuffling the Tiger program to District 7-4A to compete against Bullard, Brownsboro, Canton and Rusk.
Bullard and Brownsboro will each will provide a unique challenge for the district’s other three teams, dropping down from the large school Class 4A division to the small school Class 4A division.
While the defense should be solid after another year in coordinator Jeff Lester’s second season, filling the holes left by quarterback Tyler James, running backs Brandon Smith and Vernon Morrow, receiver Nathan Johnson and kicker Aidan Phillips will be a key focus during two-a-days.
Key dates for the Tigers are set to include scrimmages against Van (Aug. 17) and Quinlan Ford (Aug. 23), the season opener in Mineola Aug. 31, homecoming against Hillbsoro Oct. 5 and the District 7-4A opener in Bullard Oct. 12.
Wills Point is set to clash with chief rival Canton on the road Oct. 26 before closing out the regular season at home Nov. 9 for a Senior Night contest against Rusk.
Two-A-Days 1
Two-A-Days 2
Photo by David Kapitan
Senior Melanie Sullivan goes up for a serve during Wills Point’s first two-a-day workout of the year Aug. 1.
Two-A-Days 3
Photo by David Kapitan
Coach Greg Cranfill speaks with his time at midfield prior to the first football two-a-day workout Aug. 6 at Ken Autry Davis Field.
Two-A-Days 4
Receivers went through route running and pass catching drills under the watchful eye of Tiger assistant coach Jonne Reynolds.
Two-A-Days 5
Photo by David Kapitan
The Tiger football program opened its first workout of the year with a special teams session that included Coach Greg Cranfill showing off his punting skills.
