Hattiesburg coach Lauren Smith took over a volleyball program that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2013, but in her first year at the helm, she now has the Lady Tigers 17-4 overall with a district title after a 7-16 season in 2016.
When Smith took over, however, she didn’t have to fix any bad habits, and the team was good enough to see success quickly.
“We just cleaned things up as far as our skills,” Smith said. “They’ve had the same team for the past two years, I’m only graduating one senior this year. I’m not sure what the difference is from last year to this year, but they work really hard, though.”
Sophomore Kendyl Terrell leads the Lady Tigers offensively with 160 kills through 69 sets played, as she averaging more than two kills per set. Smith said Terrell, who is also a placekicker on the football team, is the engine that makes the Hattiesburg attack go.
“She’s a true athlete, and that’s all I can say about that,” Smith said. “She’s all over the place with sports. Those Terrell girls, they’re very talented, and Kendyl manages her time very well. She doesn’t complain. She might be tired, she might hurt, but she fights through. The momentum actually followers her. If we get two or three kills behind Kendyl, the team steps up and plays behind her.”
While Terrell leads the way in kills, Hattiesburg has three other attacks with at least 50 kills. Junior Arei Redd has contributed 97 kills, junior Ty Vance has 87 and junior Madison Payne has recorded 50. Even junior Taytum Terrell has contributed 36.
Smith says when her team is performing at the highest level, it’s hard to stop her four or five attackers.
“It’s pretty intimidating,” she said. “We don’t have one killer, we don’t have two, we have four, and really we have five potentially. My back row kids make good passes to our setter to set the ball up to our hitters, but if I were the opponent on the other side and saw one of our big girls come across the net, it would be pretty intimidating.”
Watching Smith coach her team last Thursday in a 3-1 win over Meridian, she doesn’t yell a lot during the actual set. Instead, she’ll save most of her comments to her players for timeouts or between sets.
“Most of the games I’ll holler, ‘communicate, talk,’ or, ‘move your feet,’” Smith said. “I’ll remind them to bump-set-kill and stay in that rhythm. I basically stand on the sidelines and let them work their kinks out. Their ability level is high enough that they’re able to work things out without me keep on telling them.”
Hattiesburg will host Florence Thursday at 6 p.m. for the first round of the Class II playoffs. If it wins, the second round will be play the following Tuesday, then the semifinals and state championship are set for next Friday and Saturday on Mississippi State’s campus in Starkville.
The postseason is very quick for high school volleyball, so Smith has been giving her team the same message since the Lady Tigers clinched a playoff berth a couple of weeks ago.
“I tell my girls all of the time, we have the potential to win a state championship, but we have to stay level-headed, stay humble and continue to build every day,” she said. “It’s quick, it’s going to be over with in two weeks, and like I said, we must remain humble and focused.”
