Mount Vernon Volleyball Team Off to Slow Start
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Mount Vernon Volleyball Team Off to Slow Start

Majors coach looking for team confidence boost.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Mount Vernon volleyball coach Julia Lashley assembled her team for a postgame talk Monday in the Yorktown gymnasium.

On Sept. 16, Lashley pulled the Majors to the side during and after a match at T.C. Williams.

Lashley, like every other coach, wants to win. But first, she has to get the Majors to believe in themselves.

"We’ve got to work on our confidence issue," is what Lashley said she told her players.

Mount Vernon is off to a 0-6 start. The Majors were swept in each match and reached double digits in only one game during recent matches against T.C. Williams and Yorktown.

Senior Ericka Frank also said there’s a lack of confidence on the team to the point where players get discouraged shortly after the match starts.

"I think we just gave up on the court. That needs to stop now," she said Monday at Yorktown. "As soon as we lose one point that’s when they start saying, ‘Oh great, here we go.’ So we’re all fine during the first play but after that it kind of sinks."

AFTER LOSING the first two games to Yorktown, 25-9 and 25-8, Mount Vernon came out flat and lost game three 25-3. A net violation on Yorktown cut the Patriots game-three lead to 2-1, but Yorktown responded by scoring 22 straight points.

Gable finished with three kills and two aces while Briana Mitchell had three kills.

Against T.C. Williams, Lashley said she thought the Majors served the ball well, but only once — 14 points in game three — did Mount Vernon reach double figures during a 3-0 (25-5, 25-8, 25-14) loss.

The Majors started game three with a 4-0 run, but the Titans responded by scoring eight straight and 10 of the next 11.

Frank finished with a team-high three kills. She also said the Majors need to work on their communication.

"We don’t know how to play as a team," she said. "We’re not coordinating."

Lashley also said the team has struggled jelling.

"We have individual pieces and we don’t talk," Lashley said. "It’s a puzzle we haven’t put together quite yet. It’s there, but it’s like we’re sticking our middle piece and our end piece and trying to form an outside of our puzzle."

Lashley spoke highly of setter Alexis Gable, who is the only Major who plays club volleyball.

"She's really hard working," the coach said. "She's got great, strong serving. She wants to play club, she wants to play college. It's in her."

Lashley also said Stephanie Quirk is a strong server.

Mount Vernon travels to take on West Potomac at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 30.

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