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The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans will look to carry the momentum from a successful summer into the 2022 volleyball season beginning next week.

Charles Henderson has been hard at work all summer with play dates and camp appearances and has carried that work over into fall practices.

“We practiced hard all summer, we were trying to find our way,” CHHS coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “We lost a lot of our offensive output from last year and a bunch of girls are trying to fill those holes. It will be a lot of fun to see who steps into those positions to score some points for us.

“We need some point scorers right now and that’s what we’re looking for. We had a really good week this week in practice and we have three more opportunities to get better prior to our first match next week.”

Kirkpatrick is looking to his group of seniors to guide the way for the Lady Trojans but also hopes some other younger players can step up.

“You always look to your seniors for leadership,” he emphasized. “They’ve started to define those roles and have done a good job at that. We have four seniors and a lot of returners with experience coming back.

“Leadership is one of those things you don’t have to be a senior to do, though. You can be a freshman or sophomore or whatever else and be a leader. I think our seniors are doing a nice job filling the void left by last year’s seniors, though.”

Kirkpatrick wants his team to be in peak form come November.

“The goal, just like anyone else, is you want to improve throughout the year and be playing the best volleyball you can once you get into the area tournament and hopefully regional tournament,” he said. “We will hopefully be much better by midseason and the end of the season compared to where we are at the beginning, just because of how many people we have at new positions and in new roles right now. We’re getting much more comfortable now.”

The Lady Trojans open up the 2022 season at home against Jeff Davis on Aug. 18 before traveling to Montgomery for a tri-match with Jeff Davis and Carver on Aug. 23. Charles Henderson hosts Ariton on Aug. 25 and then heads to Ashford tournament action on Aug. 27.

The Lady Trojans close out the opening months on the road against Emmanuel Christian in Dothan before jumping starting September with a road game against Zion Chapel on Sept. 1. Charles Henderson then hosts the Trojan Classic on Sept. 3 before heading to Greenville on Sept. 6. The Lady Trojans will enjoy a pair of back-to-back home matches against Brewbaker Tech on Sept. 15 and Greenville on Sept. 20 before wrapping up September at Brewbaker Tech on Sept. 27 and hosting Emmanuel Christian on Sept. 29.

The last month of the season starts off in Greenville for more tournament play on Oct. 1 and then CHHS hosts a tri-match with Dale County and Ariton on Oct. 3 before closing out the regular season on the road. CHHS will play in tournament matches in Dothan on Oct. 8 and travel to Ariton for a tri-match with Ariton and Zion Chapel on Oct. 11 in the season finale.