Above all else, volleyball is a sport of timing. There is the split-second timing within each volley as well as the timing of shifts in momentum. To be successful, both must be mastered. 

The Alba-Golden Lady Panthers went to Hawkins last Friday to practice exactly those two aspects of timing.

In the first case, the timing within each individual volley, the match was wildly successful. As evidenced by the first set win 25-22, the Lady Panthers are incorporating more scorers in the attacking mix. 

Game one owed much to the efforts at the net of Alexis Wilmut, Hailey Crutchfield and Lainey Wright. While the play of Lainey Teel and Kalli Trimble was never diminished, it was in fact augmented by the use of these additional offensive weapons.

After absorbing the fight-back of the Lady Hawks in the second set (a 25-14 Hawkins win), Alba-Golden found that tactical timing again in set three. Eight of Alba-Golden’s first 13 points were attacking points. It gave them a seven-point margin.     

Suddenly, the Lady Panthers learned just how difficult it can be to turn back the momentum. Hawkins reeled off a 5-point run and a 7-point run to take the third set. 

The fourth set was excellent competition. Each side exercised  strengths, and no one gave anything less than best effort. In this case, it was the home side that took the match with a 25-22 fourth set win. 

Those lessons in timing, and the great progress demonstrated so far by the Lady Panthers, promise a solid run commencing Friday at home against the Boles Hornets.