The Lady Purple Hurricanes might not mind the slow starts, but they could be in for a quicker burst out the gates after offseason preparations.
“The players started hosting open gyms back in the spring and completed summer workouts for the first time this year,” Spradley explained. “Based on the level of play that I’m seeing from the girls right now, we are easily more prepared for this upcoming season than we were last year going into our season opener. The fact we haven’t changed our rotational offense helps as well as it lessens confusion in those early season games.”
Though the team enters this season better prepared, a key player from the state quarterfinalist team, as well as an integral part of last year’s team, is no longer with Cartersville. Two-time all-county selection Jessica Boss, as well as all-county player of the year Janezka Cruz, was lost to graduation.
Spradley believes someone from the team will fill the void left behind by those two players.
“Although last year’s players are definitely missed, we still have a very strong service and offensive game,” the coach said. “Katie O’Connor is coming in off of an excellent showing of her club season, and Melissa Bartlett is our veteran setter, which is an area where we lacked experienced last year. Starters Stefanie Will and Mallory Walker are also returning, and we have been working as a team on being more aggressive offensively and playing at a faster speed.”
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