ALBANY – The Comets finished 1-9 in the Six Rivers East last year, and just 1-18 overall. This season only a conference slate will be played, which means that if Albany wants to improve its record, it will have to do so quickly as there are only six weeks of play before the postseason.
“I am hoping we are able to have a full season where everyone stays healthy,” said Sydney Bump, now in her third year as Comets head coach. “I want the players to enjoy the game and have fun, but also be competitive in our practices and matches.”
Albany graduated just two seniors from the 2019 squad, however both were seniors – McKenna Overland and Cindy Detra, an all-conference hitter.
Back for the Comets this fall will be seniors Jada Flannery, Kloie Huffman-Heins, Mady Conway, Aayliah Landen and second-team all-conference player Brianna Dahl. Juniors Payton Firth and Peyton Pendergrass are also returning.
“We have a good handful of returning varsity players that have been on varsity as freshmen and sophomores – so they have experience. We also have some great servers this year, which will help us,” Bump said.
Already with a high volume of challenges facing the team this fall, the program is also facing a low-numbers problem from within the program. Bump said that means multiple players will be asked to play both JV and varsity, which could also mean more court time for some players given the shortened season.
“We were not able to run our normal high school camp this summer or participate in any of our strength and conditioning programs, so I know for some players they have had a lot of time off from sports due to COVID-19,” Bump said. “We also only get seven practices before our first match, so we will need to work extra hard to prepare for a much quicker start to the conference schedule.”
Bump said that if all teams in the Six Rivers East stay healthy, two-time defending champion Black Hawk will be the favorite. “They have been a top team for a number of years and I don’t think this year will be any different,” she said.
