LA Volleyball Prepping For Start Of Postseason

With the district tournament looming large and just one more regular season game remaining, Livingston Academy’s volleyball team captain said this week is their last chance to improve.

Senior Mallie Carwile has been a member of the rotation since she was a freshman and has been a starter since her sophomore year. She said that the Wildcats have all the talent in the world, but have yet to put all the pieces together this season.

“I feel like our postseason play, it’s kind of in the air right now,” Carwile said. “I feel like we’re very close to breaking that peak and breaking that barrier that we have on ourselves right now, but we’ve got to do it pretty soon.”

Livingston plays their final regular season game tonight against Trousdale County. Junior Chloe Jenkins agreed with Carwile that the team is close to breaking through and said timidness is holding them back.

“We need to work on our passing and knowing when to get it and who’s going to get it,” Jenkins said. “Because right now our biggest problem is just being assertive and saying ‘mine!’ and taking the ball instead of just looking to someone else to pass it. So, we need to work on taking our own accountability.”

Jenkins said team chemistry has been at an all time high despite this season seeing the most losses for the Wildcats in recent memory. She said there is a lot less bickering over mistakes and that everyone has had a positive attitude.

In her last season, keeping a positive attitude during a “rebuild” year has been tough on Carwile. She said that in her first two season’s it was nearly guaranteed that Livingston would advance far in the postseason. But in her junior season, the Wildcats were eliminated in the district tournament and Carwile said it has left a bad taste in her mouth that has yet to leave.

“Last year, we ended on a poor note,” Carwile said. “It was just very abrupt, we didn’t expect it to happen. And this year has been a rebuild year, so it’s been tough. Last year’s season the end was very tough to end on and this year it kind of carried over and it’s been tough all season.”

Carwile said she hopes this year see’s the Wildcats make unexpected noise deep into the postseason and said it just comes down to belief.