Lady Bobcats pick up a pair of victories

Berryville volleyball coach Kristin Whetham has been waiting for her young team to start clicking this season. Two consecutive victories last week are a sure sign of progress.

The Lady Bobcats defeated Gentry in four sets on the Lady Pioneers’ home floor on Monday, Sept. 25, then returned home for a five-set victory the following night over Clarksville.

“That was probably the best we’ve seen them play,” Whetham said of the win over Clarksville.

Whetham said she’s made some changes in strategy that have helped her team.

“When Kynadee Hopper goes to the back row, we kind of struggle,” Whetham said. “We’ve been working on a few things to try to get through that rotation quick and get Kynadee back on the front row.”

Whetham said unforced errors have plagued the Lady Bobcats this season. Against Gentry, Berryville allowed 13 consecutive points to watch an eight-point lead evaporate.

“And it wasn’t anything Gentry was doing,” she said. “We were hurting ourselves. And that’s kind of been our problem this year.”

Whetham had high praise for sophomore libero Hannah Campbell.

“She played JV a lot in junior high, then last year in ninth grade she was a setter,” Whetham said.

After playing club volleyball last winter, Whetham said, Campbell showed significant improvement coming into this season.

“Trying to figure out who my libero was this year, because I have four sophomores that can play spot,” Whetham said. “I just stuck with her and the last four games we’ve played, every coach has come up to me after the game and said: ‘I absolutely love your libero.’ She is going to be one of the best liberos that we’ve seen in our conference in a long time.”

Berryville hosted Huntsville on Monday, Oct. 2, in the Lady Bobcats’ annual Pink Out game to promote breast cancer awareness. The Lady Bobcats will be at home again Tuesday, Oct. 3, hosting Farmington.