AFTER starting the season 0-11, the East Jackson volleyball team finds itself on something of a mid-season roll with four wins in its last seven matches.
The Eagles downed Cedar Shoals Thursday 25-17, 25-13 to move to 4-14 on the year. East Jackson also narrowly lost to Winder-Barrow 26-24, 25-23 on the same night.
“We had made a couple of minor adjustments to the lineup heading into the second half of the season, and we played better all around, but we’re still giving away too many easy points,” East Jackson coach Tim Thomas said. “We’re doing much better at scoring points of our own - thanks in part to Madison’s hitting and strong serving by several players, but we can’t keep giving away points.”
Madison Mealor led East Jackson with 17 kills.
Thomas notes an unusual stretch that’s coming up. “We’ve got the longest stretch coming up that I’ve ever had in six years of coaching,” he said. “We go nine days without playing, so while we’re glad to have the chance to catch our breath and work on a few things, the big challenge is going to be keeping our focus and not losing the improvements we’ve made so far.”
East Jackson nabbed its third win of the year five days earlier, beating the most familiar team on the schedule.
The Eagles topped intra-county rival Jackson County 25-18, 25-14 in one of three matches for East Jackson on the day.
The Eagles lost to Rabun County 25-17, 25-17 and Morgan County 25-10, 25-14 in the other contests.
“Both the varsity and JV teams were shorthanded, and we had Marion (Mealor) play up with the varsity so that each team would have seven athletes,” coach Tim Thomas said. “She really stepped it up and performed extremely well. I hope the rest of the team was paying attention to her performance, because Marion was really the only one out there who lived up to her potential.”
Though East Jackson did pick up a win on the night, the Eagles had room to improve their play in all of their matches, Thomas said.
“We were flat-footed all night long and should have done much better against all three teams,” Thomas said.
Statistical leaders on the night were Madison Mealor with 18 kills and three blocks. Marion Mealor added 15 assists. Bree Melendez finished with 11 assists.
In junior varsity action, East Jackson beat Jackson County Thursday and then picked up two more wins Tuesday to improve to 8-4.
“I’ve said it several times already, but that group is just fantastic,” Thomas said. “We’re looking forward to seeing them play with the varsity in another year or two. Venus Sayanam has shown a lot of improvement lately, and Emi Melendez plays consistently well every time she takes the floor. A lot of those girls have come a really long way, and we’re very proud of them.”
