The month of September was a good one for Habersham Central High School’s volleyball squad as it rattled off a 10-2 record over that 30-day period.
The Lady Raiders (20-9, 6-2 Region 8-AAAAA) started the month with four-straight wins over non-region foes, the first of which was a best-of-five sets against Rabun Gap-Nachoochee School.
From there, they moved on to straight-sets wins over Elbert County and Hart County high schools. Then a three-set victory over Flowery Branch High School.
As the streak continued, region play started and the matches mattered that much more.
The Lady Raiders knocked off Winder-Barrow and Alcovy high schools in straight sets, capping a six-match unbeaten streak.
The next opponent, Loganville High School, knocked off the Lady Raiders 25-12, 25-14 on the road. That same night, HCHS recovered with a vengeance, topping Alcovy High School 25-5, 25-5.
That sparked another four-game streak with Clarke Central High School on the losing end twice and a comeback win over Apalachee High School in three sets.
The final match of September for the Lady Raiders was a three-set loss to Loganville, 21-25, 25-16, 13-15.
HCHS Head Coach Lindsay Herrin said she and her team don’t focus on streaks. They’re looking at improving their play from the last time out on the court each time they step back out there.
The closing stretch
There are six remaining matches on the 2024 slate for the regular season.
Two of those are tonight on the road at Stephens County High School in non-region action. The Lady Raiders will face the Lady Indians as well as East Jackson High School. HCHS fell to the Lady Eagles in three sets in a match at White County High School to start the season.
The final four matches will conclude the region schedule.
Thursday, the Lady Raiders will travel to Jackson County High School to face the Lady Panthers and Apalachee. Then, they’ll play a rescheduled match at Winder-Barrow against the Lady Bulldoggs and Jackson County on Oct. 7.
Chasing the postseason
The next day, Oct. 8, the Region 8-AAAAA tournament will begin play and will be hosted by the No. 1 seed from regular season play.
After starting out the season 0-4, HCHS has put together an impressive performance, going 20-5 since then.
Herrin said her team has just focused on playing as well as possible as the tournament approaches.
“We have been working hard to do what we can to ensure we are prepared for the region tournament,” Herrin said. “Keeping things simple and focusing on fundamentals are things we have been practicing regularly. Working on serving scenarios, practicing offensive plays and repping defensive positioning have been our main focuses as of late.”
As of now, the Lady Raiders are the second ranked team in the region behind Jackson County. Those two matches later this week and early next week will be important, assuming neither team falls outside of those.
“We still have two matches to come with Jackson County, which we expect to be tough. But we have put ourselves in a really great position as far as seeding is concerned for the tournament,” Herrin said. “I have told the girls multiple times that we have a great chance of making a run in the postseason and that they just need to believe it for themselves.”
Down this final stretch, into the region tournament and beyond, Herrin said her team just needs “to keep grinding, keep battling, keep learning from our mistakes and keep building on our successes.”
Tallying stats
The Lady Raiders have been putting up solid numbers so far this season in terms of the stat sheet.
Senior Callyn Chosewood has delivered 43 aces, which is 18 percent of her serve attempts. She has a 95 percent serve percentage, meaning only 5 percent of her 241 serves has resulted in an error.
At the net, Chosewood has been just as clinical. She’s amassed a 40 percent kill rate, burying 121 of her 300 attempts, and is averaging just under five kills per match.
Senior Ava Saxon also has 43 aces, which is 20 percent of her serves. She’s buried 115 of her 377 kill attempts at the net for a 30 percent kill rate. She’s averaging 4.4 kills per match.
Maybe the biggest stat for Saxon is her 169 digs this season. She’s averaging 6.5 digs per match.
Speaking of digs, fellow senior Maci Williams is just behind Saxon with 151 and is averaging six digs per match.
Senior Kinslee Hicks has delivered 22 percent of her serves as aces (32) and has a 92.4 percent serve percentage.
Senior Laci Fitzgerald has the highest serve percentage on the squad with a 95.1 mark, eeking out that lead by just the tenth of a percent over Chosewood.
Fitzgerald has the second-most blocks on the team with 16. She is averaging 15.6 assists per match and has totaled 405 this season for a 33 percent assist percentage in her 1,223 attempts. That assist attempts number is the highest mark on the team by far with the next closest having 68 chances.
Senior Jayden Jarrett has put up a 31 percent kill rate in her final campaign, burying 99 of her 320 chances. She’s averaging 3.8 kills per match.
Junior McKenzie King is currently leading the team with 31 total blocks, seven solo and 24 assists. She has also delivered a 32 percent kill rate with 76 of her 241 attempts finding the court floor.
“When looking at stats, they’re proof that we have been playing well as a team,” Herrin said. “All of these girls play huge roles as far as our success is concerned.”
A big part of volleyball, as is the case in many sports, are the stats that aren’t quantified into a stat sheet: the hustle points.
The Lady Raiders have been high on the invisible hustle points scoreboard this season, which has also greatly contributed to their success.
“Let me tell you, we have made more of those hustle plays than I can count,” Herrin said. “I tell the girls all the time how proud I am of their effort on plays that most other teams would just let die. Many coaches make comments about the effort and heart our girls exhibit and that is one of the greatest compliments we can receive.”
