If that great philosopher Forrest Gump had been in the stands at last night's Lady Dragon Volleyball home opener, he might have said something like this...Preseason is like fishing...you never throw back the win!!

The 2019 home opener vs. Grapevine got off to a bit of a bumpy start as the team feel in a 9-3 hole to open the set and never quite recovered falling 22-25. Set two was an endurance test. The Lady Dragons again fell behind 16-20, rallied back to tie the set at 20. They then saw Grapevine take a lead again at 22-20, lead for the first time in the set at 24-22 but failed to capitalize on four set points. They eventually won 28-26. In the third set LDVB took more command, winning 25-21 and it really wasn't that close. The big green machine finally started to roll in this set and led 21-12 before Grapevine went on a mini run to cut the margin. With the lead in the match for the first time the Lady Dragons finally seemed to have their home opening jitters out of the way as they cruised in the final set 25-19.

Some perspective on last night's match - despite the bumpy elements the Lady Dragons earned a very nice 3-1 win against a team that went to the 5A Region 1 tournament last year. And anybody who knows the history of Carroll/Grapevine in any sport shouldn't have expected a smooth ride. On the positive side this Lady Dragon team just keeps finding youthful players who are stepping up with each match. Tuesday night it was sophomore McKenzie Cutler who every time the team needed a big kill delivered it. Finding a third hitter to go with junior Natalie Glenn and senior Annabelle Smith will be huge for this group.

Despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the Metroplex, the team is 11-3 overall, having won three matches in a row since dropping a match in the quarterfinals at the NWISD Tournament. And this year's Lady Dragon Volleyball team is extremely youthful with a makeup of six sophomore, five juniors and just four seniors.

There is one more week of pre-season tournaments to go as the team travels to Leander for Volleypalooza 2019 beginning on Thursday, August 22nd with first match at 11am vs. Cypress Ranch.