SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — Volleyball blasted onto Social Circle athletics’ scene a year ago. So many students tried out for the inaugural season that a junior varsity and middle school team were warranted. 

Head coach Josh Paul highlighted the mindset of the team heading into year two. 

“We don’t talk or use the excuse of being a second year program,” Paul said. “We know what it takes to compete and have to execute.” 

The Lady Redskins finished last season at 5-14 overall with a 4-6 record in Class 1A-Area 5. They swept area foes like Greene County and Washington-Wilkes to claim the fourth place and qualify for the postseason. 

The lone non-area victory was against Piedmont Academy 3-2. 

During this past offseason, the team went to a camp at the University of Alabama in addition to its normal summer practice schedule. The word floating around the program has been “compete.” That is the top priority, according to Paul. 

“Our goals are to simply compete,” Paul said. “We made the decision this year to challenge the girls and play a much more difficult schedule leading up to region play. Our obvious goal is to win our region but we know we must play with great effort and discipline to compete with the great teams in our region.”

So far so good for the Lady Redskins. 

In their preseason scrimmage against Peachtree Academy on Aug. 8, the Lady Redskins won in four sets: 25-18, 16-25, 25-23 and 25-15. Social Circle will play a tournament at Eastside on Aug. 12 to begin the official regular season. 

Paul is looking to a few players to help lead the team as the season gets underway. 

Hazel Campos, Ava Middlebrooks, Presley Lemaster and Morgan Brown were mentioned by their head coach. 

Social Circle is working toward making the second year of the program better than the first. Paul believes the players’ work ethic will help the team do just that. 

“As we talked last year, we really just wanted to get the girls comfortable with the game and an understanding of the jobs each of them had as a player,” Paul said. “This year, we are looking to compete! We are working extremely hard defensively and in our discipline.”