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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Kaden Atwood and Katy McGehee prepare to return a serve Saturday, Aug. 9. Both of these players will serve as veteran leaders on the team going into the year. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Hadleigh Allen takes a swing at a serve Saturday, Aug. 9. Allen was very effective at the service line picking up multiple aces against Iowa Park and Legacy. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Katy McGehee prepares to throw the ball up for a serve Saturday, Aug. 9. The Lady Blues participated in scrimmages over the weekend to prepare for the regular season. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Kya Cooper (Front) and Tara Dawson (Back) go up for a black Saturday, Aug. 9. Cooper has been predominantly a setter and defender while Dawson has been another attacker on the corners of the net.
The Graham Lady Blues volleyball teams participated this past weekend in a series of volleyball scrimmages in preparation for the start of the regular season.
Graham’s volleyball teams participated in these scrimmages Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8-9, At Graham high school against a variety of opponents. On both days, Graham’s varsity and junior varsity teams played in the main gym while the freshman team played in the old gym.
On day one, Graham saw neighboring schools like Jacksboro, Memorial and Nocona all make the trip over for some developmental play.
However, the first day played out much more like summer league play than official games. There were time limits on matches of 40 minutes, no officials or scores were recorded either but head coaches got their first taste of real action commanding their rosters against opponents for the 2025-26 season.
Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk said these kinds of scrimmages are vital before the start of the season because it gives teams the opportunity to know what are strengths and weaknesses to look at and improve upon.
“We have areas that we definitely need to work on,” Faulk said. “When you do scrimmages like that, we had six scrimmages in two days, some of those weaknesses get exposed and it reassures us what we need to work on.”
One thing that Faulk prefaced, which she has prefaced since the start of the summer, is the importance of communication.
Faulk said she thought the communication was strong during day one matches but the team got somewhat fatigued during their day two games.
Faulk believes in order to keep that element of the game strong throughout they will need to build up their confidence and mental toughness as the season progresses.
Day two was certainly tough for the Lady Blues varsity team. Unlike day one, these games were played like official matches in a best two out of three sets, first to 25 points win style with officials.
The team lost both their matches on the day against Iowa Park and Legacy in two sets. However, there were still some bright spots that the team can lean on coming out of the day.
Emily Hughes put in work on the front row both days for the Lady Blues offensively. She racked up multiple kills across all the teams faced during the weekend and played with an aggressiveness that kept opposing defenses constantly on their toes.
Other players like Katy McGehee, Kaden Atwood, and Hadleigh Allen also had solid moments at the service line picking up aces while also commanding the team during the course of matches.
Also, players like Tara Dawson and Madison Cauble provided pressure offensively on the corners of the net to keep the team in sets and competitive.
While it took until the end of the day, the Lady Blues did finally pick up a set win against their day two opponent Legacy in an extra third set winning 25-21.
This was something Faulk said was important as they turn their sights to the regular season.
“That’s what we talked about, end on a high note,” Faulk said. “You hope that builds your confidence going into the season.”
After opening the season Tuesday, Aug. 12, against Burkburnett, the Lady Blues will travel to Llano for a tournament Friday and Saturday, Aug. 15-16.
