KFDM COOP Posted August 12, 2006 Report Posted August 12, 2006 http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17046481&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512556&rfi=6 Volleyball scrimmages breed confidence BEAUMONT - Sometimes teams play a best-of-three game series, while others use a running clock format. Advertisement The score isn't official and game uniforms aren't worn, but most coaches believe pre-season scrimmages for high school volleyball teams do have significance. "Scrimmages give players the opportunity to gain confidence," said Ozen coach Shy Randle. "They are very important to the season because coaches get a chance to see what their teams need to work on before the season begins." Silsbee, Ozen, Central, West Orange-Stark, Kountze and Memorial all participated in preseason scrimmages at Ozen High School on Friday. All teams with the exception of Kountze return at 10 a.m. today to continue games at Ozen. Kountze travels to Nederland for a 9 a.m. scrimmage. "Scrimmages are a great way to let you know what your team needs to work on," said Central coach Angel Marsh. "I don't really pay attention to the score, but I do take notes on how many missed serves and hits we had in a game." Central returns only four players from last year's team, so Marsh realizes the importance of practice and preseason scrimmages. "We are a young team so we still have a few rough edges that we have to iron out," Marsh said. "But with any team the more you practice and play together the better you become." Despite Central missing the playoffs last season, the Jaguars were still able to improve from their 2004 record. "We really got off to a good season before the hurricane hit," Marsh said. "We won the silver division of the Jasper tournament and placed third in the YMBL tournament. But the hurricane hurt us. I lost a lot of girls, and I had to move up players from the junior varsity team for the district tournament last year." Teams in District 20-4A were forced to play a revised schedule that crammed four weeks of games into five days of competition. Nederland and Port Neches-Groves finished the tournament as co-district champions, with Ozen gaining the league's final playoff spot. "We only won five or six games in 2004, but we won 13 games last season," said Marsh, whose team opens the season against Orangefield on Tuesday. "I think this season we will continue to improve. We have a lot of hard workers on the team, and I think we will have a pretty good season." With only one player returning from last year's Class 2A regional quarterfinal team, Kountze coach Pam Orsot's main objective at scrimmages is to find out who has the best chemistry as a group on the floor. "We had five seniors graduate so we are in the rebuilding stage," Orsot said. "I am using the scrimmages to help me see what we need to work on in practice. It also gives me a chance to figure out the line ups and who needs to go where on the floor. I have a lot of sophomores with big hearts and lots of hustle." Memorial coach Debra Arvie likes her team to play in scrimmages because it gives it more contact with the ball. Memorial returns five players from last year's team. The Titans finished last in District 22-5A last season "A lot of my players don't play club ball so scrimmages give them the opportunity to get familiar with the game after time off," Arvie said. "My players do play in summer leagues so scrimmages give them the chance to work on their skills."
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