Published: July 23, 2008 12:18 pm            

Duncan volleyball team prepares to break out

Lady Demons eager to set new standard for the program

With a new season comes new hopes and new ambitions. The Lady Demon volleyball team has set the bar high with the beginning of full-scale workouts — advance past regional.

This year could be the breakthrough year for a program that has posted a winning record in five of its seven seasons. Five starters return from a team that posted a 14-10 record last year and set a record for the total number of games won in a season. The Lady Demons finished the season ranked 15th in the state. It was the first time in the history of the school that Duncan had been ranked in the state volleyball poll.

“Practice is fun,” said Duncan coach Randi Pawpa. “It’s easy when you have more experience on the floor. Our young kids are better this year and this is a tribute to the middle school program. The young kids are pushing the older ones. We have more intensity in practice and a great work ethic. This is a quality group.”

The middle school has had a program for the past two years, providing the Lady Demons better depth in the lower classes. In addition to better depth, the Lady Demons are expected to be more athletic this season.

The varsity and sub-varsities are working out once a day right now and will begin two-a-days next week in preparation for the season-opener Aug. 8 against Cache. The team has a total of 30 players out for the team this season with 22 in workouts Tuesday morning. The rest of the team was wrapping up church camp and vacations. The numbers are similar to what Duncan has had in the past.

“Thirty is a good number for us,” Pawpa said. “We have five coming back that played a lot and we don’t substitute a lot in volleyball. Because of the returning experience, we are able to do a little more right now in practice. We don’t have to spend as much time on the basics and we spend extra time on offensive and defensive plays.”

Once the team starts the season, it will have an early season barometer in the Cameron Tournament. Last year, the Lady Demons won the event for the first time and are hopeful a repeat performance could get them on the track to reach the first and foremost goal, a berth in the state tournament.

“We expect to win,” Pawpa said. “Our motto is that we are going to work harder. The kids will have to believe. They are there, they just have to step on the court and believe. Last year, they did and it showed. We want to take it past region this year and take it to state.”

        

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