THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
McAlester High School Athletics

You never forget your first win. It was great to see McAlester head volleyball coach Laurie Smith get the first win of her career Tuesday night, and it looks like more will soon be on the way. Smith seems to have brought excitement to McAlester since she moved from Levelland, Texas. The Lady Buffaloes embraced Smith when I spoke to some of them at the first day of practice last month. Smith is very big on passing and serving, and the players were excited about her new techniques. The Lady Buffs deserve credit for bouncing back in multiple ways on Tuesday. They fell to Shawnee in a sweep in the Aug. 15 season opener, and only the third set was close in the score. McAlester lost the first set to Tulsa Memorial, but was able to get some points in a row during the second and third sets. They did a great job squeaking out in the second set, and it looked like they dominated that third one. This was a competitive game that was close in the score. The Lady Buffs faced adversity again in stumbling in that fourth set. It didn't look close. Perhaps the Lady Buffs were going to lose despite holding a 2-1 lead in the match, but they deserve praise for holding off a Memorial comeback in the final set. That really says something about the character of these young ladies to put a loss behind them from five days earlier and not let challenges in Tuesday’s first, fourth and fifth sets get the better of them. McAlester could easily have collapsed once Memorial tied the match, but the perseverance of the Lady Buffs ought to be a good momentum builder going forward this season. That’s not too bad for a first-time head coach who last coached as an assistant in 2017. There may be some growing pains, but it looks like this program is going to be in good hands. Another thing some of the Lady Buffs told me from the first day of practice was wanting to increase the student section at their home games. Those who attended Tuesday’s game certainly had an enthusiasm that I don’t remember from previous years. I’m sure the team appreciated that, and it was awesome to see the students have the back of their school. If they can keep that up, maybe it will carry over to the team. Now’s the time to build off of that. The Lady Buffs are scheduled to be back home Aug. 27 against Locust Grove, and fans will get to see first hand if McAlester cleaned up some of its errors from a week prior. They have the opportunity to watch the Lady Buffs encourage their teammates and possibly overcome any adversity they might face. This program has been down in recent memory, but it’s encouraging to know everybody who is a part of it seems on board with turning things around.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
McAlester High School Athletics

CONGRATULATING MCALESTER VOLLEYBALL ON BIG WIN

COREY STOLZENBACH

McAlester News-Capital | 8/23/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Corey Stolzenbach