WC to finish summer with open scrimmage Thursday night at 6

With its games tucked neatly into the week during the fall, high school volleyball sometimes gets lost in the shadow of the football season.

That didn’t stop Warren Central’s coaches from taking a page from their rival sport’s playbook.

The Lady Vikes will play an open intrasquad scrimmage Thursday night at 6 in their home gym. Assistant coach Jeff Pilgrim said the idea behind it was similar to a spring football game — to get one last look at players before the MHSAA’s summer practice period ends, as well as giving them some experience playing in front of a crowd and to generate some excitement in the program.

Admission to the scrimmage is free.

“That’s the way I view it,” Pilgrim said. “You scrimmage and practice all the time in every sport. It’s different when you put people in there spectating. It’s an entirely different thing, and you’ve got to have experience with it.”

The scrimmage is the last of four that the Lady Vikes will have played this summer. The first three were held during regular practice sessions, but were hardly non-competitive.

Unlike most sports’ summer games, Warren Central kept statistics during its scrimmages and has used them to chart players’ progress. The weekly leaders were posted in the team’s locker room.

“It’s showing us what we need to work on. It’s a good look at how we’re doing and what we need to improve on,” senior attacker Kayla Mayfield said.

While they’ve found new ways to chart players’ progress, Pilgrim is also hopeful that Thursday’s game will raise the program’s profile.

Warren Central has not had a winning record or made the playoffs since the program was started in 2011, although it has shown steady improvement. It faces competition with slow-pitch softball for players, and football for attention. Having a night to showcase the program might be a starting point toward changing that.

“Last summer we did a scrimmage every Thursday. Their parents would come and watch, but no one their age would come,” Pilgrim said. “Making it a little more publicized will add a little bit to it.”

The Lady Vikes are also hopeful that it’s a launching point toward a breakthrough season.

The season opener is five weeks away, Aug. 7 at Ridgeland. Warren Central is coming off a season in which it finished with a 10-13 record and finished fifth in one of the toughest divisions in Mississippi.

With more teams adding volleyball to their sports offerings, the MHSAA was able to trim divisions from eight to four teams this season. That shifted perennial powers Madison Central and Northwest Rankin out of the division.

Warren Central will still have to deal with a tough Clinton squad, but figures to have an easier path to the playoffs.

The two other teams in the division, Greenville and Callaway, combined to win two games last season.

“We were on the cusp of being a playoff-caliber team last year, and weren’t quite there. Our team camraderie is better than last year. This year, everybody seems to like everybody for the most part, and that’s going to have a big effect,” Pilgrim said. “The playoffs is always a goal. To me, it’s not just making the playoffs, it’s getting deep into the playoffs.”