North Lenoir volleyball looks to extend late 2017 success to 2018

North Lenoir's volleyball team practices Friday morning. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News

LA GRANGE -- A young North Lenoir team in 2017 will seek flight in 2018.

The Hawks struggled early last year, going 3-6 before winning nine of its next 11 and ending the season 13-11 with a playoff berth. With a young team, including three freshmen receiving plenty of court time, coach Heather Carson said it took a little time, but the team got on a roll late.

“Last year, we had a lot of new girls and were trying to figure out what worked,” Carson said. “Once we got going, it really meshed so hopefully it’ll just carry over to this year.”

Expectations are high in La Grange with the Hawks seeking to win the ECC for the first time since 2015. Carson said the team has been working hard toward making the goal possible.

“We always try to win the conference,” Carson said. “We definitely want to make the playoffs and there are some tough teams in our conference, but we’re just going to keep doing our best and get better. They’ve been coming to the workouts during the summer and whenever they come they give 110 percent.”

North Lenoir will have five seniors from last season’s team, including Paula Mason, who said the team has to do a lot of the little things in order to be successful.

“We’ve got to get our passes down,” Mason said.  “If we can’t pass, then we can’t set, can’t hit and can’t win our games.”

The chemistry has been strong throughout the summer due to a year of experience working with each other.

“We’re like a big family now, and we all work well together,” sophomore Paytyn Jones said.

Another sophomore, Kennedy Sullivan, shared similar sentiments.

“We’ve had time to get together and know each other, so now we’ve got to do the best we can and grow (as a team),” Sullivan said.