ITALY — Italy’s Junior High Lady Gladiators, 7th and 8th grade, battled the Grandview Lady Zebras on Monday, September 13 to get their season started. Coaches Heather Richters and Tina Richards were as excited as the teams were as the butterflies were definitely fluttering before the first whistle.

Italy has divided into four teams this year to ensure everyone gets plenty of experience. Listed as 7A & 7B, 8A & 8B, Italy’s 7B team bounded onto the court first and a season starting ace by Lilly Perry gave Italy a quick 1-0 lead. Moments later, Amber Hooker aced to make the score 4-1 in Italy’s favor. A few tries later, an ace by Jullissa Hernandez gave Italy’s youngest junior high squad an 8-4 advantage.

With Amber Mackovich serving, Taleyia Williams bumped a point over the net for Italy to give the Lady Gladiators a 10-5 margin. The two sides seemed pretty evenly matched for awhile but another ace by Hooker gave Italy a 19-14 lead. Italy built a 23-19 advantage but Grandview’s girls got rolling and scored 6 straight points to earn the comeback win 25-23 in the first set.

Both sides stayed close in the second set and were tied 6-6. Grandview pulled away 12-9 needing just 1-point to win. Italy closed the deficit 12-11 but the Lady Zebras made it to thirteen first and won the second set as well, 13-11.

In Italy’s 8B game versus Grandview, the Lady Zebras served to a 3-0 start and were still ahead with a 9-6 advantage. The Zebras eventually won the first and second sets but Italy’s Reagan Cockerham, K’Breona Davis, Bailey DeBorde, Madeleine Pittmon, Tylar Wilson and Hope Scott show signs of being tremendous volleyball players for the Lady Gladiators.

7A played the next game and encountered their share of struggles against Grandview as well as the Lady Zebras once again earned a win against the Lady Gladiators.

Scheduled to play a best 2-of-3 match, 8A came up short of a win against Grandview with the Lady Zebras taking the first set 25-20. Both coaches, Richters and Richards, gathered the 8A squad and gave them words of encouragement in the huddle.

The team relied heavily on Madison Washington, Jaclynn Lewis, Kortnei Johnson, Tara Wallis and Bailey Eubank in the second set and celebrated Italy’s first win of the day 25-23. The Lady Zebras, however, didn’t waiver and avoided a late rally by the Lady Gladiators to win the third set 15-13.

Despite the tough outing against Grandview, the games were well played and very close. More than the final scores, it was evident that the Lady Gladiators have been working hard in practices and that all four Italy teams have the talent to be successful. After a few more games of playing together, expect the overall outcomes to be much different.

Coach Richards said, “They all played really well. We are taking this time to get ready for Varsity. Overall I am impressed with their playing. They all fought hard and never gave up.”

Italy’s 7B roster:
Kayla Cunningham
Leandrea Holbert
Jullissa Hernandez
Amber Hooker
Cora Keys
Amber Mackovich
Lilly Perry
Janae Robertson
Brenya Williams
Taleyia Williams

Italy’s 8B roster:
Reagan Cockerham
K’Breona Davis
Bailey DeBorde
Madeleine Pittman
Hope Scott
Tyler Wilson

Italy’s 7A roster:
Kaci Bales
Brit Chambers
Cassidy Childers
Ashlyn Jacinto
Jozie Perkins
Halee Turner
Hannah Washington

Italy’s 8A roster:
Bailey Eubank
Kortnei Johnson
Jaclynn Lewis
Ana Luna
Kelsey Nelson
Tara Wallis
Madison Washington

We are proud of each of you!