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Set for success By Emily Grobe Schedule matches Lady Ducks against best in state The Taylor High School volleyball team has a grueling season ahead of it, one that should get the Lady Ducks ready for a run at a state tournament bid. Taylor coach Holly Turnbough said this year’s pre-district schedule is stacked, but it’s just what the team needs to help them reach their goal. “I feel like it’s a strong schedule,” Turnbough said. “It will definitely be a good measure of where we are and where we need to be.” Taylor will spend a lot of time on the road, with only seven home games in all. The Lady Ducks will head west to San Angelo and just down the road to Hays for early tournaments, where Turnbough expects her team to take on state-quality teams, including Monahans, Wimberely and Bellville. The Lady Ducks will also see some old foes, many they have beaten, including Groesbeck, which Taylor knocked out of the playoffs two years ago. The Lady Goats were also knocked out of the playoffs by District 18-3A’s Hutto last season. The Lady Ducks were originally slated to play in the Cameron Tournament, which they won with ease last year, but Turnbough said she was less interested in her team getting easy wins than she was in them playing teams that would prep them for the road to the state tournament. Taylor will also play in the Temple tournament before district begins. “Playing against those better teams will get us ready and at the level we need to be at. The [San Angelo and Hays] tournaments will put us against teams that have already been to state,” Turnbough said. “We will see very tough teams prior to district - not that district is going to be a piece of cake either.” The Lady Ducks’ district schedule will be a challenging one - one where off nights aren’t allowed. Taylor’s biggest test may come against Caldwell, which handed last year’s playoff-bound squad a loss in four games, 23-25, 28-26, 16-25, 13-25. Madisonville, Navasota and Bryan Rudder are question marks on the season, but they aren’t teams Turnbough is willing to overlook. Neither Madisonville or Navasota made the playoffs last season, but could be contenders behind Taylor and Caldwell this season. “I haven’t seen them yet, but I plan to scout them somewhere along the way,” Turnbough said. The Lady Ducks will have to work hard facing teams that have made it to the state tournament and may take some losses along the way, but like Turnbough said, it isn’t the record that matters. “It’s where you end up in the end,” she said.
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