Maintaining momentum: New volleyball coach Johnson says she’s up to the challenge
Kaylee Reynolds spikes the ball over the net during the Lockhart Alumni Game on Tuesday night in the Lions’ gym. Reynolds, a varsity reserve in 2018, is expected to play a major role this year. Miles Smith/LPR
Lockhart head volleyball coach Kallye Johnson maintains her composure and stays focused through the jubilant high fives that followed a point during the Lockhart Alumni Game. Johnson said her team has continued to improve since its first practice last week. Miles Smith/LPR
An experienced head coach is taking the reins of the Lady Lions volleyball program this year, looking to build on the momentum of last year’s playoff season.
The Lady Lions experienced a literal reversal of fortune in 2018, improving from 2-10 in 2017 to 10-2 with the help of former head coach Alex Bothe and an experienced senior crew led by setter Abbe Rougeou.
This year, Bothe has moved on to Alamo Heights and Rougeou will suit up at a Dallas-area community college, but head coach Kallye Johnson believes she and a squad that includes eight seniors can pick up where Lockhart left off in 2018, which ended in a second-place district finish and a playoff loss in the bi-district round.
“I’m good with that,” Johnson said. “As a coach in our program I come in with high expectations. We don’t just want to go to the playoffs. We expect to go the playoffs and make a deep run. I have high expectations from the top down, from varsity all the way down to our junior high kids.”
Johnson boasts a 73-51-4 career record as a private school head coach, leading Wichita Christian in Wichita Falls to the TAPPS state finals in 2017.
Read more in this week’s Post-Register.
