PLEASANT VIEW – The White House Heritage volleyball team finished second in the regular season in District 9-AA, but the Lady Patriots had their sights set on first in the district championship.
White House Heritage volleyball team finished second in District 9-AA championship.
Heritage was on track, beating Westmoreland in three sets during the first round before handing district host Sycamore a loss in four sets in the semifinals. That left the Lady Patriots with their district nemeses Harpeth in the finals.
The Lady Indians left little doubt at who the king of the district was, handing Heritage a loss in straight sets, but both teams will move on to the region semifinals Tuesday. The Lady Patriots are scheduled to take on Hume Fogg.
So here’s what we learned from the District 9-AA tournament.
1 – Heritage took the next step this season. The Lady Patriots’ goal at the start of the season was to win the district, but getting past Greenbrier, who made it to the sub-state round last year, was clearing a major hurdle.
2 – Harpeth wasn’t ready to be dethroned. The Lady Indians have been the measuring stick for the rest of the district and still is, according to Heritage coach Brandon Niblock,
3 – The one area of improvement that Niblock said he noticed after the championship game was the Lady Patriots need to play faster. Heritage has to move faster and needs to get to the net quicker, Niblock said. Players can’t think, he said. It needs to be second nature because when they think, they lose that extra second it takes to win the point, he added.
4 – Heritage is now set to take on District 10-AA’s measuring stick. Hume Fogg has been a state power in volleyball for a number of years, and like Harpeth, they aren’t going to give it up easily.
5 – Heritage’s young players have grown a lot this year, but there’s still some growing that needs to be done in order to get to where they want to be. Niblock said he’s proud of the progress his players have made this year, but he knows they are going to have a play one of their best games in order to move on to the region finals and sub-state.