The Lady Warriors of Nanih Waiya closed out their volleyball season with a win over arch-rival Noxapater Monday before last, while the Lady Tigers were set to end their season with a contest against Kosciusko earlier this week.
All four games were competitive in the Nanih Waiya-Noxapater showdown with NW taking the varsity win 25-16, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21.
The win gave the Lady Warriors a season-ending record of 10-9, more than tripling their season total of three from last year.
“I was really proud of our first year in district play,” NW coach Dayna Hunter said. “We finished behind the (bigger) schools. When you have four 3A schools in your division it’s tough.
“We still have a lot to learn and we are ready to get better,” she said. “We want to try and get to the playoffs in our third year.”
Dallyn Nance led Nanih Waiya with 10 kills and six aces, while I’onnya Coleman delivered seven kills and Cheyenne Steen and Kaylee Gregory recorded two each. Chloe Weeks had seven aces and eight assists, while Jalia Cotton had seven aces.
Lindsey Mills had nine points, seven spikes and one ace for Noxapater in the match, while Nona Wilkes had six points, three spikes, a block and an ace. Jenna Wilkes picks\ed up five points, four spikes and a block, while Addy Webb had three points, two spikes, a block and an ace.
Madison Riggs had two points, an ace, a dig and a spike for Noxapater. Mary Grace Mills chipped in with a point and a dig, while Mia Smith had a point.
In Junior varsity action Nanih Waiya won 25-17, 25-20, while NW won the tight junior high match 20-25, 27-25, 15-13.
In other action last week Noxapater dropped a three-set match to league foe Amory by the scores of 25-9, 25-11, 25-14.
Nona Wilkes had four points for the Lady Tigers, while Jeanna Wilkes and Webb had three each and Lindsey Mills had one.
Lindsey Mills, Webb. Jenna Wilkes and Nona Wilkes had one spike each, while Jenna Wilkes also had a dig. Nona and Jenna Wilkes had three blocks each, while Nona Wilkes and Webb had two aces apiece.
WA closes out first volleyball season
By Robbie Faulk
Winston County Journal
Volleyball was something new for everyone involved at Winston Academy this season; even the coaches.
Candice Cefalu played plenty of sports at WA during her playing days as a high school athlete but volleyball was a sport that was never introduced to most of Winston county, outside of Grace Christian School, until the last couple of years.
When Cefalu and several students approached the administration at WA with the opportunity to start things up, no one was quite sure what to expect right away. However, Cefalu came away impressed with how everything went this season as the Lady Patriots completed the first year on the court as a program.
“I think the first year went very well,” Cefalu said. “We worked on things as a team and us as coaches learned a lot about the game as things went on. If you would have asked me in May if I thought we would have been where we were at the end of the year, I wouldn’t have thought so, but we had a really good summer and translated that into the season getting better every week.”
WA finished the year 3-9, but the team went up against stiff competition and held its own against some great teams. Included in the year was a win over Louisville High School in one of the few games played between the two schools in any sport ever.
WA also defeated Kosciusko to close out the season last week in a positive way and they went head-to-head with far more experienced clubs like Grace Christian and Heritage Academy. The wins and losses weren’t all that important to Cefalu this year as the team went through the first season of play, but she was encouraged with the development of her younger players as well.
The Lady Patriots finished 8-4 in junior varsity this season which breeds hope for the future. WA lost a few players to graduation, but they return most of the starting lineup and have a young nucleus of ninth and 10th graders coming in. The coach said that the biggest thing is the players coming through the program are bringing size to the team which will allow them to evolve more as a unit moving forward.
There’s also hope that next year or sometime soon the Lady Patriots will be accredited by the MAIS and will begin playing games that really matter within the association. After getting their feet wet this season, WA is ready for the challenge.
